Patent ID: 7608369

Claim:
A photomask for use in an exposure apparatus which forms an exposure pattern by illumination, comprising: a transparent mask substrate; a polarization modulation layer provided on the mask substrate and including at least two polarization modulation regions which produce mutually incoherent polarized light components, have mutually different birefringence functions, and adjoin each other, a polarization modulation shift part being formed at a position where the at least two polarization modulation regions adjoin each other; a phase modulation layer provided on one of the mask substrate and the polarization modulation layer and including at least two phase modulation regions which impart a phase difference of 180° and adjoin each other, a phase modulation shift part being formed at a position where the at least two phase modulation regions adjoin each other; and an amplitude modulation layer provided on one of the mask substrate, the polarization modulation layer, and the phase modulation layer, and including amplitude modulation regions which decrease transmittance, wherein a contact line between the at least two polarization modulation regions and a contact line between the at least two phase modulation regions are located at a corresponding position in a direction of illumination, thereby forming a dip part having a reduced light intensity of a transmissive light distribution, and the amplitude modulation regions are provided at positions apart from optical paths in the polarization modulation shift part and the phase modulation shift part by a predetermined distance, thereby relatively increasing the light intensity of the dip part.