Patent ID: 7195845

Claim:
A mask blank comprising: a substrate, a resist film on said substrate, wherein the substrate includes at least an opaque layer and/or a phase-shifting layer, or phase-shifting layer having an opaque function, and the resist film is formed by the spin-coating method comprising: a uniforming (evening or flatting) step of dispensing a resist solution on a substrate and rotating said substrate at a predetermined main rotation speed for a predetermined main rotation time, so as to primarily make a resist film thickness uniform; and a drying step of rotating said substrate at a predetermined drying rotation speed for a predetermined drying rotation time after said uniforming step, so as to primarily dry said uniform resist film, wherein a plurality of samples are prepared by being coated with the resist solution under a plurality of conditions resulting from independent, stepwise change in parameters in said uniforming step, the parameters being said main rotation speed and said main rotation time, and under the condition in which the concentration (viscosity) of the resist solution is fixed at an arbitrary concentration, and the drying rotation speed in said drying step is fixed at an arbitrary rotation speed, wherein the resist film thicknesses of each sample are measured at a plurality of points within a desirably specified effective region (critical area) in said substrate, film thickness uniformity within an effective region is determined from results of film thickness uniformity distribution within the effective region, the relationship is thereby determined between a condition of combination of the main rotation speed and the main rotation time of each sample and the film thickness uniformity within the effective region on each sample, and this relationship is specified to be reference data A, wherein a condition I of combination of the main rotation speed and the main rotation time for achieving desirably specified film thickness uniformity within the effective region is determined based on said reference data A, and wherein resist-coating is performed in accordance with the condition I of combination of the main rotation speed and the main rotation time, wherein the film thickness uniformity within the effective region of 132 mm by 132 mm in the midsection of the substrate is not greater than 20–30 angstroms or 30–40 angstroms.