PHOTOMASK BLANK, PHOTOMASK MANUFACTURING METHOD AND SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICE MANUFACTURING METHOD

摘要

Provided is a photomask blank by which a dry etching time is shortened by increasing the dry etching speed of a light shielding film, resist film reduction is suppressed, resolution and pattern accuracy (CD accuracy) are improved by thinning the resist film, and a light shielding film pattern having excellent cross-sectional shape is formed by the shortened dry etching time. The photomask blank has the light shielding film on a light transmitting substrate. The photomask blank is provided for dry etching which is applicable to a photomask manufacturing method wherein a light shielding film is patterned by dry-etching by using a mask pattern formed on the light shielding film as a mask. The light shielding film is composed of a material including mainly chromium (Cr) and nitrogen (N), and substantially has a diffraction peak of CrN(200) in X ray diffraction. Furthermore, the light shielding film includes nitrogen (N) substantially uniformly in the depth direction by having chromium (Cr) as reference.