Method for determining an optimal absorber stack geometry of a lithographic reflection mask

摘要

The present invention relates to a method for determining an optimal absorber stack geometry of a lithographic reflection mask comprising a reflection layer and a patterned absorber stack provided on the reflection layer, the absorber stack having a buffer layer and an absorber layer. The method is based on simulating aerial images for different absorber stack geometries in order to determine process windows corresponding to the absorber stack geometries. The optimal absorber stack geometry is identified by the maximum process window size. The invention further relates to a method for fabricating a lithographic reflection mask and to a lithographic reflection mask.