A variable spot‐shaping system using an electrostatic quadrupole triplet has been developed to provide a more flexible pattern generation without loss of beam current accompanying a change of dimension of the shaped beam. The quadrupole electron‐beam lithography system (QEBS) consists of a LaB6electron gun, magnetic illuminating lenses, square apertures, an electrostatic quadrupole triplet, and an octopole deflector. The high precision electrostatic quadrupole triplet has been newly developed for this system. The length of the shaped beam can be varied from 0.3 to 30 μm for a rectangular beam and from 1 to 200 μm for a linear beam by adjusting the excitation voltages of the second and the third quadrupoles. The excitation voltages of the quadrupole triplet are controlled by floating digital/analog (D/A) converters with high voltage amplifiers and high‐precision dc voltage sources. Preliminary parttern exposures demonstrate that the QEBS is suitable for forming fine line patterns.