Blue light of 0.15mW at 417.6nm is generated in a quasi-phase-matched LITaO₃ optical waveguide. A new heat-treatment technique using a metal-oxide mask is proposed to fabricate the periodic domain-inverted grating with less degraded optical properties. The mask promotes the proton indiffusion by inhibition of the proton outdiffusion during the heat treatment. It reduces the amount of the initial proton exchange for the domain inversion and prevents the formation of crystal defects on the surface accompanied by the proton outdiffusion. Consequently, it minimizes the degradation of nonlinear coefficient and scattering loss caused by the initial proton exchange.