Masks and their fabrication technologies are keys to the further advancement of optical lithography. A stable SiNx single layer attenuated masks for DUV have been developed. A 0.2 micrometers contact hole pattern was fabricated using a KrF stepper with the SiNx attenuated mask. Toshiba mask fabrication system, including an electron beam writing system, a data base inspection system, and a data conversion system, has been developed for 64 Mbit DRAM class. Required mask improvements for increasing optical lithography resolution include better critical dimension (CD) uniformity, higher mask writing system resolution, and automatic shifter patten generation of alternating phase shifting masks. In addition, improved mask pattern positioning accuracy is also required. In this paper, experimental CD uniformity and resolution improvements, automatic phase shifter assignment method, and improvement in positioning accuracy, are described. The future development of masks will incorporate these key technologies.