A resist composition comprising a sulfonium compound of specific structure as PAG has excellent lithography performance factors such as minimal defects, high sensitivity, improved LWR and CDU, and is a quite effective resist material for precise micropatterning.

A resist composition comprising a base polymer possessing a sulfonium or iodonium salt structure having an iodized arylsulfonic acid anion attached to its backbone is provided. It exhibits a high sensitivity and forms a pattern with reduced LWR or improved CDU independent of whether it is of positive or negative type.

The present invention provides a method for producing an actinic ray-sensitive or radiation-sensitive resin composition, including (X) mixing a specific onium salt compound (1) with a specific salt compound (2) in a non-aqueous solvent (S) to obtain a specific onium salt compound (3), (Y) obtaining a specific onium salt compound (A) from the onium salt compound (3), and (Z) mixing the onium salt compound (A) with a resin (B) whose solubility in a developer changes due to action of acid; a method for producing an onium salt compound (A) for an actinic ray-sensitive or radiation-sensitive resin composition, including (X) and (Y); a pattern forming method; and a method for manufacturing an electronic device.

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.