A chemically amplified negative resist composition is defined as comprising (A) an onium salt having an anion moiety which is a nitrogen-containing carboxylate of fused ring structure, (B) a base resin, and (C) a crosslinker. The resist composition is effective for controlling acid diffusion during the exposure step, exhibits a very high resolution during pattern formation, and forms a pattern with minimal LER.

A method includes receiving a design rule deck including a predetermined set of widths and spacings associated with active regions. The method also includes providing a cell library including cells having respective active regions, wherein widths and spacings of the active regions are selected from the predetermined set of the design rule deck. The method includes placing a first cell and a second cell from the cell library in a design layout. The first cell has a cell height in a first direction, and a first active region having a first width in the first direction. The second cell has the cell height, and a second active region having a second width in the first direction. The second width is different from the first width. The method further includes manufacturing a semiconductor device according to the design layout.

A microstructure comprises a plurality of interconnected units wherein the units are formed of hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) tubes. The graphene tubes may be formed by photo-initiating the polymerization of a monomer in a pattern of interconnected units to form a polymer microlattice, removing unpolymerized monomer, coating the polymer microlattice with a metal, removing the polymer microlattice to leave a metal microlattice, depositing an h-BN precursor on the metal microlattice, converting the h-BN precursor to h-BN, and removing the metal microlattice.

In one embodiment, a multi charged particle beam writing apparatus includes an objective lens adjusting focus positions of multiple beams, an astigmatism correction element correcting astigmatism of the multiple beams, an inspection aperture allowing one of the multiple beams to pass therethrough, a deflector deflecting the multiple beams and causing the multiple beams to scan over the inspection aperture, a current detector detecting beam currents of the individual multiple beams after passing through the inspection aperture, a beam image formation unit forming a beam image based on the detected beam currents, a feature amount calculation unit generating a first waveform and a second waveform by adding brightnesses of the beam image in a first direction and in a second direction, and calculating a first and a second feature amounts from the first and the second waveforms, and a parameter calculation unit calculating an exciting parameter that is to be set for the astigmatism correction element based on the first feature amount and the second feature amount.

In one embodiment, a multi charged particle beam writing apparatus includes an objective lens adjusting focus positions of multiple beams, an astigmatism correction element correcting astigmatism of the multiple beams, an inspection aperture allowing one of the multiple beams to pass therethrough, a deflector deflecting the multiple beams and causing the multiple beams to scan over the inspection aperture, a current detector detecting beam currents of the individual multiple beams after passing through the inspection aperture, a beam image formation unit forming a beam image based on the detected beam currents, a feature amount calculation unit generating a first waveform and a second waveform by adding brightnesses of the beam image in a first direction and in a second direction, and calculating a first and a second feature amounts from the first and the second waveforms, and a parameter calculation unit calculating an exciting parameter that is to be set for the astigmatism correction element based on the first feature amount and the second feature amount.

A resist composition including a resin component whose solubility in a developing solution is changed due to an action of an acid, in which the resin composition has a constitutional unit derived from a compound containing a chain-like aliphatic acid dissociable group or a monocyclic aliphatic acid dissociable group and a constitutional unit derived from a compound containing an aromatic hydrocarbon group-containing acid dissociable group.

A method includes receiving a design rule deck including a predetermined set of widths and spacings associated with active regions. The method also includes providing a cell library including cells having respective active regions, wherein widths and spacings of the active regions are selected from the predetermined set of the design rule deck. The method includes placing a first cell and a second cell from the cell library in a design layout. The first cell has a cell height in a first direction, and a first active region having a first width in the first direction. The second cell has the cell height, and a second active region having a second width in the first direction. The second width is different from the first width. The method further includes manufacturing a semiconductor device according to the design layout.

A method includes receiving a design rule deck including a predetermined set of widths and spacings associated with active regions. The method also includes providing a cell library including cells having respective active regions, wherein widths and spacings of the active regions are selected from the predetermined set of the design rule deck. The method includes placing a first cell and a second cell from the cell library in a design layout. The first cell has a cell height in a first direction, and a first active region having a first width in the first direction. The second cell has the cell height, and a second active region having a second width in the first direction. The second width is different from the first width. The method further includes manufacturing a semiconductor device according to the design layout.

A microstructure comprises a plurality of interconnected units wherein the units are formed of hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) tubes. The graphene tubes may be formed by photo-initiating the polymerization of a monomer in a pattern of interconnected units to form a polymer microlattice, removing unpolymerized monomer, coating the polymer microlattice with a metal, removing the polymer microlattice to leave a metal microlattice, depositing an h-BN precursor on the metal microlattice, converting the h-BN precursor to h-BN, and removing the metal microlattice.

In one embodiment, a multi charged particle beam writing apparatus includes an objective lens adjusting focus positions of multiple beams, an astigmatism correction element correcting astigmatism of the multiple beams, an inspection aperture allowing one of the multiple beams to pass therethrough, a deflector deflecting the multiple beams and causing the multiple beams to scan over the inspection aperture, a current detector detecting beam currents of the individual multiple beams after passing through the inspection aperture, a beam image formation unit forming a beam image based on the detected beam currents, a feature amount calculation unit generating a first waveform and a second waveform by adding brightnesses of the beam image in a first direction and in a second direction, and calculating a first and a second feature amounts from the first and the second waveforms, and a parameter calculation unit calculating an exciting parameter that is to be set for the astigmatism correction element based on the first feature amount and the second feature amount.