Techniques for reducing degradation and/or modifying feature size of photomasks

摘要

A photomask includes a light transmitting substrate and an absorber layer adjacent thereto. The absorber layer includes a silicide, such as molybdenum silicide, patterned into a plurality of features. The surrounding environment is controlled to prevent undesirable growth by oxidation of the absorber layer when the mask is exposed to light while being used to fabricate integrated circuits. In another aspect, the surrounding environment is controlled to encourage desirable growth by oxidation of the absorber layer when the mask is exposed to light.