A critical issue in fabricating arrays of holes is to achieve high-aspect-ratio structures. Formation of ordered arrays of nanoholes in silicon nitride was investigated by the use of ultrathin hard etch mask formed by nickel pulse reversal plating to invert the tonality of a dry e-beam resist patterned by e-beam lithography. Ni plating was carried out using a commercial plating solution based on nickel sulfamate salt without organic additives. Reactive ion etching using SF6 /CH4 was found to be very effective for pattern transfer to silicon nitride. Holes array of 100 nm diam, 270 nm period, and 400 nm depth was fabricated on a 5 x 5 mm(2) area. (C) 2004 American Vacuum Society.