Patent ID: 8764995

Claim:
A method of fabricating an extreme ultraviolet photomask, comprising: providing a blank mask comprising, in order, a substrate, a reflective layer, a capping layer, and a hard mask layer, the reflective layer having a first thickness, the capping layer having a second thickness, and the hard mask layer having a third thickness; forming a first opening in the hard mask layer; forming a second opening in the capping layer and at least a portion of the reflective layer; forming an absorber layer in the first and second openings and over a top surface of the hard mask layer, the absorber layer having a fourth thickness, the fourth thickness being greater than a combined total of the first thickness, the second thickness and the third thickness; removing a first portion of the absorber layer from the top surface of the hard mask layer using a chemical-mechanical polishing process (CMP), thereby reducing the fourth thickness to a fifth thickness less than the fourth thickness, the fifth thickness being greater than the combined total of the first thickness, the second thickness and the third thickness; and removing a second portion of the absorber layer from the top surface of the hard mask layer using a dry etch process, thereby reducing the fifth thickness to a sixth thickness to form an absorber, the sixth thickness being less than the fifth thickness and greater than the first thickness.