Embodiments of the present disclosure provide a patterning method and a semiconductor structure. The method includes: providing a substrate, wherein the substrate includes adjacent storage regions and peripheral circuit regions; forming, on the substrate, a pattern transfer layer, the pattern transfer layer having a plurality of first hard masks, wherein the first hard masks extend along a first direction and are spaced apart from each other; forming a barrier layer on the pattern transfer layer; forming, on the barrier layer, a plurality of second hard masks, the plurality of second hard masks extending along a second direction, wherein the second hard masks are spaced apart from each other, and the second hard masks are located in the storage regions and second hard masks close to the peripheral circuit regions have structural defects.