Patent 7323277 was granted and assigned to Sony on January, 2008 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
A photomask is proposed which comprises a transparent substrate and a light shielding film formed on a principal surface of the substrate, with the light shielding film having an aperture pattern thereon. And, a recess is provided at the portion of the transparent substrate which is exposed in the bottom of the aperture pattern. The dimension of the recess is larger than that of the aperture, and a peripheral portion of each of the aperture pattern of the light shielding film is configured as an eaves-like extension in response to the density of a neighboring pattern of the aperture pattern.