A resist composition comprising a sulfonium salt having an acid labile group of aromatic ring-containing tertiary ester type in the cation as the acid generator exhibits a high sensitivity and reduced LWR or improved CDU.

A positive resist composition comprising a base polymer comprising recurring units (a) having the structure of an ammonium salt of an iodized or brominated phenol, and recurring units (b1) having an acid labile group-substituted carboxyl group and/or recurring units (b2) having an acid labile group-substituted phenolic hydroxyl group exhibits a high sensitivity, high resolution, low edge roughness and dimensional uniformity, and forms a pattern of good profile after exposure and development.

Method of forming pattern in photoresist layer includes forming photoresist layer over substrate, selectively exposing photoresist layer to actinic radiation forming latent pattern. Latent pattern is developed by applying developer to form pattern. Photoresist layer includes photoresist composition including polymer: ##STR00001##
A.sub.1, A.sub.2, L are direct bond, C4-C30 aromatic, C4-C30 alkyl, C4-C30 cycloalkyl, C4-C30 hydroxylalkyl, C4-C30 alkoxy, C4-C30 alkoxyl alkyl, C4-C30 acetyl, C4-C30 acetylalkyl, C4-C30 alkyl carboxyl, C4-C30 cycloalkyl carboxyl, C4-C30 hydrocarbon ring, C4-C30 heterocyclic, —COO—, A1 and A2 are not both direct bonds, and are unsubstituted or substituted with a halogen, carbonyl, or hydroxyl; A.sub.3 is C6-C14 aromatic, wherein A.sub.3 is unsubstituted or substituted with halogen, carbonyl, or hydroxyl; R.sub.1 is acid labile group; Ra, Rb are H or C1-C3 alkyl; R.sub.f is direct bond or C1-C5 fluorocarbon; PAG is photoacid generator; 0≤x/(x+y+z)≤1, 0≤y/(x+y+z)≤1, and 0≤z/(x+y+z)≤1.

A polymer comprising a first repeating unit including an amino group protected by an alkoxycarbonyl group; a second repeating unit including a nucleophilic group; and a third repeating unit including a crosslinkable group, wherein the first repeating unit, the second repeating unit, and the third repeating unit are different from each other.

An object of the present invention is to provide a photosensitive resin composition having good liquid repellency. The photosensitive resin composition of the present invention at least contains a fluororesin having a crosslinking site, a solvent, and a photopolymerization initiator, and the fluororesin contains a repeating unit derived from a hydrocarbon having a fluorine atom.

The present invention provides a photosensitive composition with which a cured film having excellent patterning properties and excellent electrode anticorrosion properties can be produced. In addition, it also provides a cured film formed of the photosensitive composition, a color filter, a light shielding film, an optical element, a solid-state imaging element, an infrared sensor, and a headlight unit.

The photosensitive composition of the present invention contains a zirconium nitride-based particle containing one or more selected from the group consisting of zirconium nitride and zirconium oxynitride a resin, a polymerizable compound, and a photopolymerization initiator, in which the zirconium nitride-based particle contains 0.001% to 0.400% by mass of a Fe atom with respect to a total mass of the zirconium nitride-based particle.

A method for producing an actinic ray-sensitive or radiation-sensitive resin composition, comprising: preparing an intermediate solution which includes a photoacid generator and a solvent; and mixing the intermediate solution with at least a resin to prepare an actinic ray-sensitive or radiation-sensitive resin composition having a viscosity of 10 mPa.Math.s or more.

A resist composition is provided comprising a base polymer and a quencher comprising a salt compound consisting of a cyclic ammonium cation and a 1,1,1,3,3,3-hexafluoro-2-propoxide anion having a trifluoromethyl, hydrocarbylcarbonyl or hydrocarbyloxycarbonyl group bonded thereto. The resist composition has a high sensitivity and forms a pattern with improved LWR or CDU, independent of whether it is of positive or negative tone.

Provided are a salt capable of producing a resist pattern with satisfactory CD uniformity (CDU), an acid generator, and a resist composition comprising the same. Disclosed are a salt represented by formula (I), an acid generator, and a resist composition comprising the same:

##STR00001##

wherein R.sup.4, R.sup.5, R.sup.7 and R.sup.8 each represent a halogen atom, a haloalkyl group or a hydrocarbon group; A.sup.1 and A.sup.2 each represent a hydrocarbon group, the hydrocarbon group may have a substituent, and —CH.sub.2— included in the hydrocarbon group may be replaced by —O—, —CO—, —S— or —SO.sub.2—; ml represents an integer of 1 to 5, m2, m4, m5 and m8 represent an integer of 0 to 5, m7 represents an integer of 0 to 4, 1≤m1+m7≤5, 0≤m2+m8≤5; and AI.sup.− represents an organic anion.

The present invention is a resist material containing a quencher, where the quencher contains a sulfonium salt of a carboxylic acid bonded to a maleimide group. In a chemically amplified resist material in which an acid is used as a catalyst, it is desired to develop a quencher that makes it possible to reduce LWR of line patterns and critical dimension uniformity (CDU) of hole patterns, and to improve sensitivity. For this purpose, it is necessary to reduce image blurs due to acid diffusion considerably. An object of the present invention is to provide: a resist material having high sensitivity, low LWR, and low CDU in both a positive resist material and a negative resist material; and a patterning process using the same.