A negative resist composition is provided comprising a base polymer and an acid generator in the form of a sulfonium salt consisting of a sulfonate anion having a maleimide group and a cation having a polymerizable double bond. The resist composition adapted for organic solvent development exhibits a high resolution and improved LWR or CDU.

A chemically amplified resist composition comprising (A) a polymer adapted to increase its solubility in alkaline aqueous solution under the action of acid, (B) a photoacid generator capable of generating an acid upon exposure to KrF excimer laser, ArF excimer laser, EB or EUV, and (C) a quencher in the form of an amine compound of specific structure is provided. The resist composition has a high sensitivity and forms a pattern with a high resolution and improved LWR or CDU, independent of whether it is of positive or negative tone.

In a method executed in an exposure apparatus, a focus control effective region and a focus control exclusion region are set based on an exposure map and a chip area layout within an exposure area. Focus-leveling data are measured over a wafer. A photo resist layer on the wafer is exposed with an exposure light. When a chip area of a plurality of chip areas of the exposure area is located within an effective region of a wafer, the chip area is included in the focus control effective region, and when a part of or all of a chip area of the plurality of chip areas is located on or outside a periphery of the effective region of the wafer, the chip area is included in the focus control exclusion region In the exposing, a focus-leveling is controlled by using the focus-leveling data measured at the focus control effective region.

A gas laser apparatus includes an enclosure, a window holder, a window, and a sealing member. The window holder further having an extending surface located on the side toward which reflected light travels, the reflected light being reflected off the window, the extending surface being continuous with the end surface and extending in a direction away from the window, the extending surface irradiated with the reflected light. A line is obtained by symmetrically folding back the optical axis of the reflected light at the position, on the extending surface, that is irradiated with the reflected light with respect to a reference line passing through the irradiated position and perpendicular to the extending surface. The line 602 extends across a normal to the window in the direction from the extending surface toward the window from the side facing the outer circumference of the window toward the center axis of the window.

A compound comprising an aromatic group or a heteroaromatic group, wherein the aromatic group or the heteroaromatic group comprises a first substituent group comprising an ethylenically unsaturated double bond, a second substituent group that is an iodine atom, and a third substituent group comprising an acid-labile group, wherein the first substituent group, the second substituent group, and the third substituent group are each bonded to a different carbon atom of the aromatic group or the heteroaromatic group.

The present invention is a positive photosensitive resin composition including: (A) an alkali-soluble resin containing at least one structure selected from a polyimide structure, a polyamide structure, a polybenzoxazole structure, a polyamide-imide structure, and a precursor structure thereof; (B) a polymer compound having a structural unit formed by cyclopolymerization; and (C) a compound having a quinonediazide structure for serving as a photosensitizer to generate an acid by light and increase a dissolution speed to an alkaline aqueous solution. An object of the present invention is to provide a positive photosensitive resin composition and a positive photosensitive dry film that are soluble in an alkaline aqueous solution, that can achieve high resolution without damaging excellent features such as the mechanical characteristics of a protective film, adhesiveness, etc., and that have excellent mechanical characteristics and adhesiveness to a substrate even when cured at low temperatures.

Provided is a laminate including a lithographic printing plate precursor and interleaving paper, in which the lithographic printing plate precursor is an on-press development type lithographic printing plate precursor containing an acid color developing agent in at least any of layers, and a pH of the interleaving paper is 5 or more.

A positive resist composition is provided comprising a base polymer end-capped with a group having formula (a)-1, (a)-2 or (a)-3. Because of controlled acid diffusion, a resist film of the composition forms a pattern of good profile with a high resolution and reduced edge roughness or dimensional variation.

An object of the present invention is to provide a solution which contains an organic solvent as a main component (content: equal to or greater than 98% by mass) and has an excellent defect inhibition ability.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a solution storage body storing the solution, an actinic ray-sensitive or radiation-sensitive resin composition containing the solution, and a pattern forming method and a manufacturing method of a semiconductor device using the solution.

The solution of the present invention is a solution containing at least one kind of organic solvent having a boiling point lower than 200° C. and an organic impurity having a boiling point equal to or higher than 250° C., in which a content of the organic solvent with respect to a total mass of the solution is equal to or greater than 98% by mass, and a content of the organic impurity with respect to the total mass of the solution is equal to or greater than 0.1 mass ppm and less than 100 mass ppm.

A material for forming an adhesive film used for an adhesive film formed directly under a resist upper layer film, contains: (A) a resin having at least one structural unit containing a fluorine-substituted organic sulfonyl anion structure and having at least one structural unit shown by the following general formula (2) besides the structural unit containing the fluorine-substituted organic sulfonyl anion structure; (B) a thermal acid generator; and (C) an organic solvent. The material forms an adhesive film in a fine patterning process by a multilayer resist method in a semiconductor device manufacturing process, where the material gives an adhesive film that has high adhesiveness to a resist upper layer film, has an effect of suppressing fine pattern collapse, and also makes it possible to form an excellent pattern profile. A patterning process uses the material. A method forms the adhesive film.

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