A positive resist composition is provided comprising (A) a resin comprising recurring units having adamantane ring and recurring units having cyclopentyl so that the resin may increase its alkali solubility under the action of acid, (B) a mixture of sulfonium salts, and (C) a solvent. By coating the resist composition as a resist film, forming a protective film thereon, and effecting immersion lithography, a pattern of good profile is formed at a high resolution.

A salt having a group represented by the formula (aa):

##STR00001##

wherein X.sup.a and X.sup.b independently each represent an oxygen atom or a sulfur atom,
the ring W represents a C3-C36 heterocyclic ring which has an ester bond or a thioester bond, said heterocyclic ring optionally further having an oxygen atom, a sulfur atom, a carbonyl group or a sulfonyl group each by which a methylene group has been replaced, and said heterocycilic ring optionally having a hydroxyl group, a cyano group, a carboxyl group, a C1-C12 alkyl group, a C1-C12 alkoxy group, a C2-C13 alkoxycarbonyl group, a C2-C13 acyl group, a C2-C13 acyloxy group, a C3-C12 alicyclic hydrocarbon group, a C6-C10 aromatic hydrocarbon group or any combination of these groups each by which a hydrogen atom has been replaced, and
* represents a binding position.

The present application relates to a block copolymer and uses thereof. The present application can provide a block copolymer—which exhibits an excellent self-assembling property and thus can be used effectively in a variety of applications—and uses thereof.

There is provided a resist overlayer film forming composition for use in a lithography process in semiconductor device production, which does not intermix with a resist, blocks undesirable exposure light particularly in EUV exposure, for example, UV and DUV and selectively transmits EUV alone, and which can be developed with a developer after exposure. A resist overlayer film forming composition comprising: a polymer including an organic group including a linear or branched saturated alkyl group having a carbon atom number of 1 to 10, in which some or all of hydrogen atoms thereof are substituted with fluorine atoms, and an optionally substituted C.sub.8-16 ether compound as a solvent.

Provided is a method for manufacturing a substrate having a concave pattern to be used for forming a high-definition pattern while suppressing wet-spreading and bleeding of a film-forming ink, provided is a composition to be used for manufacturing the substrate, and provided are a method for forming a conductive film, an electronic circuit, and an electronic device. The method for manufacturing a substrate having a concave pattern includes: (i) a step of applying, on a substrate 1, a composition containing a polymer having an acid-dissociable group and an acid generator to form a coating film 2 and (ii) a step of irradiating a predetermined portion of the coating film 2 with radiation. The method for forming a conductive film includes applying a conductive film-forming ink on the concave pattern formed in the exposed portion of the coating film 2 and heating the ink to form a pattern 6. The electronic circuit and the electronic device are provided by using the method for forming a conductive film.

There is provided a laminate body which is capable of forming an excellent pattern on an organic semiconductor. A laminate body includes at least a water-soluble resin film and a resist film formed of a chemically amplified photosensitive resin composition on a surface of an organic semiconductor film in this order, in which the chemically amplified photosensitive resin composition contains a photoacid generator which is decomposed in an amount of 80% by mole or greater when exposed to light under the condition of 100 mJ/cm.sup.2 or greater at a wavelength of 365 nm, a mask pattern is formed by an exposed portion being hardly soluble in a developer containing an organic solvent, and the formed mask pattern is used as an etching mask.

A fluoropolymer-photoresist composition containing fluorinated polymer for containment of liquid inks in the printing of electronic devices. Methods of applying and treating the fluoropolymer-photoresist composition containing fluorinated polymer to provide low surface energy before and after processing and development of the photoresist.

A composition for nanoimprinting including a siloxane polymer which includes a polymerizable group polymerized by irradiation with light; a polymerization initiator; and a fluorine-containing polymeric compound in which the fluorine-containing polymeric compound has a constituent unit represented by the following formula (f1-1) in which R represents a hydrogen atom, an alkyl group having 1 to 5 carbon atoms, or a halogenated alkyl group having 1 to 5 carbon atoms, Rf.sup.102 and Rf.sup.103 each independently represent a hydrogen atom, a halogen atom, an alkyl group having 1 to 5 carbon atoms, or a halogenated alkyl group having 1 to 5 carbon atoms, Rf.sup.102 and Rf.sup.103 may be the same as or different from each other, nf.sup.1 represents an integer of 1 to 5, and Rf.sup.101 represents an organic group including a fluorine atom. ##STR00001##

Provided are an active-light-sensitive or radiation-sensitive resin composition in which the sensitivity is excellent, and an active-light-sensitive or radiation-sensitive film, a pattern forming method, and a method for manufacturing an electronic device, each using the active-light-sensitive or radiation-sensitive resin composition. The active-light-sensitive or radiation-sensitive resin composition contains a resin (Ab) whose polarity is changed by the action of an acid, and a compound that generates an acid upon irradiation with active light or radiation, in which the resin (Ab) includes a metal ion, and the metal type of the metal ion is at least one of metal types belonging to Groups 1 to 10 and 13 to 16 (here, excluding Mg and Cs).

A non-chemically-amplified positive resist composition comprising a polymer comprising both recurring units derived from a sulfonium salt capable of generating a fluorinated acid and recurring units containing an amino group as a base resin exhibits a high resolution and a low edge roughness and forms a pattern of good profile after exposure and organic solvent development.