Patent ID: 7011910

Claim:
A halftone-type phase-shift mask blank for use in manufacturing a halftone-type phase-shift mask, the mask including a light transmission section which is provided on a transparent substrate and enables transmission of exposure light, and a phase shifter section which enables transmission of a portion of the exposure light and concurrently shifts the phase of the transmitted light by a predetermined amount, and the mask being able to excellently retain and improve contrast of a boundary section of an exposure pattern transferred onto a surface of a substance to be exposed, by virtue of an optical characteristic of the mask being designed such that light transmitted through the light transmission section and light transmitted through the phase shifter section cancel each other in the vicinity of the boundary section between the light transmission section and the phase shifter, wherein the phase shifter film has a phase adjustment layer comprising silicon oxynitride for primarily controlling the phase of the exposure light, and a transmissivity adjustment layer having the function of primarily controlling transmissivity of the exposure light formed between the transparent substrate and a phase adjustment layer; and the transmissivity adjustment layer has a thickness of 90 angstroms or less.