A resist underlayer film for lithography has high solubility in a resist solvent (solvent used in lithography) for expressing good coating film forming property and a smaller selection ratio of dry etching rate as compared with a resist. A resist underlayer film-forming composition containing a novolac resin containing a structure (C) obtained by a reaction of an aromatic ring of an aromatic compound (A) with a hydroxy group-containing aromatic methylol compound (B). The aromatic compound (A) may be a component constituting the structure (C) in the novolac resin. The hydroxy group-containing aromatic methylol compound (B) may be a compound of Formula (1):

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The hydroxy group-containing aromatic methylol compound (B) may be 2-hydroxybenzyl alcohol, 4-hydroxybenzyl alcohol, or 2,6-di-tert-butyl-4-hydroxymethyl phenol.

In one embodiment, a charged particle beam writing method includes dividing a figure pattern defined in writing data into a plurality of shot figures, virtually dividing a writing target substrate into a plurality of mesh regions, and calculating a correction irradiation amount to correct proximity effect and middle range effect for each of the mesh regions based on a position of the figure pattern, calculating an irradiation amount for each of the plurality of shot figures using the correction irradiation amount, calculating an insufficient irradiation amount at an edge portion of the shot figure based on the irradiation amount, resizing the shot figure based on the insufficient irradiation amount, and writing the resized shot figure on the writing target substrate using a charged particle beam in the irradiation amount.

According to one embodiment, a photosensitive composition includes a great number of photosensitive core-shell type nano-particles each including a core and a shell and having a structure that the core is metal oxide particle and covered by the shell. The shell includes a) unsaturated carboxylic acid or unsaturated carboxylate, which is a negatively ionized unsaturated carboxylic acid, and b) silylated unsaturated carboxylic acid or unsaturated carboxylate which is negatively ionized silylated unsaturated carboxylic acid.

Provided are chemically amplified resist compositions that include acid-labile sulfonate-ester photoresist polymers that are developable in an organic solvent. The chemically amplified resists produce high resolution positive tone development (PTD) and negative tone development (NTD) images depending on the selection of organic development solvent. Furthermore, the dissolution contrast of the traditional chemically amplified resists may be optimized for dual tone imaging through the addition of a photoresist polymer comprising an acid-labile sulfonate-ester moiety.

Lithographic apparatuses suitable for, and methodologies involving, complementary e-beam lithography (CEBL) are described. In an example, a column for an e-beam direct write lithography tool includes a first blanker aperture array (BAA) including a staggered array of openings having a pitch along an array direction. The array direction is orthogonal to a scan direction. Each opening has a first dimension in the array direction. The column also includes a second BAA including a staggered array of openings having the pitch along the array direction. Each opening has a second dimension in the array direction, the second dimension greater than the first dimension.

A photoresist composition includes a radiation-sensitive acid generator, particles, and a first solvent. The radiation-sensitive acid generator is capable of generating an acid upon irradiation with a radioactive ray, an action of the acid allowing a solubility of a film made from the photoresist composition in a developer solution to be altered. The particles include a metal element and have a hydrodynamic radius as determined by a dynamic light scattering analysis of no greater than 20 nm. The photoresist composition may include an acid-labile compound including an acid-labile group. The radiation-sensitive acid generator may be the acid-labile compound including a group that is capable of generating an acid upon exposure to a radioactive ray.

This conductive composition includes: a conductive polymer (a) having a sulfonic acid group and/or a carboxy group; a basic compound (b) having at least one nitrogen-containing heterocyclic ring and an amino group; an aqueous polymer (c) having a hydroxyl group (excluding the conductive polymer (a)); a hydrophilic organic solvent (d); and water (e).

The present invention provides a positive photosensitive resin composition containing (A) a polymer compound containing a siloxane chain, the polymer compound having a repeating unit shown by the general formula (1) and a weight average molecular weight of 3,000 to 500,000, (B) a photosensitive material capable of generating an acid by light and increasing a dissolution rate in an aqueous alkaline solution, (C) a crosslinking agent, and (D) a solvent. There can be provided a positive photosensitive resin composition that can remedy the problem of delamination caused on a metal wiring such as Cu and Al, an electrode, and a substrate, especially on a substrate such as SiN, and can form a fine pattern having a forward tapered shape without generating a scum and a footing profile in the pattern bottom and on the substrate when a widely used 2.38% TMAH aqueous solution is used as the developer.

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Disclosed is a method for lithography patterning. The method includes providing a substrate, forming a deposition enhancement layer (DEL) over the substrate, and flowing an organic gas near a surface of the DEL. During the flowing of the organic gas, the method further includes irradiating the DEL and the organic gas with a patterned radiation. Elements of the organic gas polymerize upon the patterned radiation, thereby forming a resist pattern over the DEL. The method further includes etching the DEL with the resist pattern as an etch mask, thereby forming a patterned DEL.

The present invention provides a random copolymer including structural units represented by the following Chemical Formulae 1 to 3 ##STR00001##
for forming a neutral layer for significantly reducing process time and process costs, and promoting directed self-assembly pattern formation of a block copolymer. The present invention further provides a laminate for forming a pattern including a neutral layer having a small thickness variation value due to washing, by including the random copolymer for forming a neutral layer. The present invention further provides a method for forming a pattern capable of stably vertically orienting a block copolymer on a laminate for forming a neutralized pattern.