We investigated the relationship between pattern size and the distortion due to absorber etching using two types of Ta absorber-one deposited by electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) and another deposited by radio frequency sputtering-with and without a Ru layer underneath. From the comparison of the results, it was confirmed that the combination of ECR Ta and a Ru intermediate layer can dramatically reduce the distortion due to absorber etching even when 80 nm wide patterns are delineated. This structure has been successfully applied to the fabrication of x-ray masks for five layers of a 100-nm-test element group (TEG) and two layers of a 1-Gbit-class dynamic random access memory. The image placement accuracy of a set of masks for five layers of a 100 nm TEG was better than 22 nm.