The present invention provides a
photomask blank which exhibits
high adhesion of a
resist film to a film containing
chromium, and which is capable of achieving good resolution limit and good CD
linearity during the formation of an assist pattern of a line pattern, said assist pattern supplementing the resolution of the main pattern of a
photomask. A
photomask blank (511) according to the present invention is provided, on a substrate, with: a film (21) to be processed; and, sequentially from the far side from the substrate, a first layer (311) which contains
oxygen and
nitrogen, while having a
chromium content of 40% by atom or less, an
oxygen content of 50% by atom or more, a
nitrogen content of 10% by atom or less and a thickness of 6 nm or less, a second layer (312) which contains
oxygen,
nitrogen and carbon, while having a
chromium content of 40% by atom or less, an
oxygen content of 30% by atom or more, a nitrogen content of 17% by atom or more, a carbon content of 13% by atom or less and a thickness of 46 nm or more, and a third layer (313) which contains oxygen and nitrogen, while having a chromium content of 50% by atom or more, an
oxygen content of 20% by atom or less and a nitrogen content of 30% by atom or more.