The present disclosure provides a lithography mask comprising a substrate, a reflective multiplayer (ML) on the substrate, a barrier layer on the reflective ML, and an absorber layer over the barrier layer. In some embodiments, a thickness of the barrier layer is less than or equal to about 10 nm. In some embodiments, a portion of the absorber layer and a portion of the barrier layer are removed. The present disclosure also provides a method for fabricating a lithography mask, and a method for patterning a substrate using a lithography mask.