A novel sulfonium compound of formula (A) and a chemically amplified resist composition comprising the same as a PAG are provided. When processed by photolithography using KrF or ArF excimer laser, EB or EUV, the resist composition has a high sensitivity and reduced acid diffusion and is improved in lithography properties. ##STR00001##

An object of the present invention is to provide a novel fluorine-containing polymer, a radiation-sensitive resin composition for liquid immersion lithography which contains the fluorine-containing polymer, which leads to a pattern having an excellent shape and excellent depth of focus, wherein the amount of an eluted component in a liquid for liquid immersion lithography such as water that comes in contact with the resist during exposure in liquid immersion lithography is little, and which provides a larger receding contact angle between the resist film and the liquid for liquid immersion lithography such as water, and a method for purifying the fluorine-containing polymer. The present resin composition comprises a novel fluorine-containing polymer (A) containing repeating units represented by the general formulae (1) and (2) and having Mw of 1,000-50,000, a resin (B) having an acid-unstable group, a radiation-sensitive acid generator (C), a nitrogen-containing compound (D) and a solvent (E).

A resist composition comprising a base polymer and a sulfonium salt of iodized benzoic acid offers a high sensitivity and minimal LWR independent of whether it is of positive or negative tone.

The present invention relates to a laser-imageable composition comprising an oxyanion of a multivalent metal and an oligomer, wherein the oxyanion of a multivalent metal comprises particles having a D.sub.50 particle size distribution of 10 μm or less. A method of formulation of the laser-imageable composition and a substrate comprising the laser-imageable composition applied thereto are also disclosed.

A method includes producing a pulsed light beam; directing the pulsed light beam toward a substrate mounted to a stage of a lithography exposure apparatus; scanning a pulsed light beam and the substrate relative to each other, including projecting the pulsed light beam onto each sub-area of the substrate and moving one or more of the pulsed light beam and the substrate relative to each other; determining a value of a vibration of the stage for each sub-area of a substrate; for each sub-area of the substrate, determining an amount of adjustment to a bandwidth of the pulsed light beam, the adjustment amount compensating for a variation in the stage vibration so as to maintain a focus blur within a predetermined range of values across the substrate; and changing the bandwidth of the pulsed light beam by the determined adjustment amount to thereby compensate for the stage vibration variations.

A resist underlayer film-forming composition for lithography including a copolymer having a structural unit of the following Formula (1) to Formula (3), a crosslinking agent, an organic acid catalyst, and a solvent: ##STR00001##
(wherein R.sup.1s are independently a hydrogen atom or a methyl group, R.sup.2 is a C.sub.1-3 alkylene group, A is a protective group, R.sup.3 is an organic group having a 4-membered ring to 7-membered ring lactone framework, adamantane framework, tricyclodecane framework or norbornane framework, R.sup.4 is a linear, branched or cyclic organic group having a carbon atom number of 1 to 12 in which at least one hydrogen atom is substituted with a fluoro group and which optionally has at least one hydroxy group as a substituent).

A composition for forming an organic film contains a polymer having a partial structure shown by the following general formula (1A) or (1B), and an organic solvent, where Ar.sub.1 and Ar2 represent a benzene ring or naphthalene ring which optionally have a substituent; X represents a single bond or methylene group; a broken line represents a bonding arm; R represents a hydrogen atom or a monovalent organic group having 1 to 20 carbon atoms; and W.sub.1 represents a hydroxyl group, an alkyloxy group having 1 to 10 carbon atoms, or an organic group having at least one aromatic ring optionally having a substituent. A composition for forming an organic film, the composition containing a polymer with high carbon content and thermosetting property as to enable high etching resistance and excellent twisting resistance; a patterning process using the composition; and a polymer suitable for the composition for forming an organic film. ##STR00001##

A method of forming a device includes forming a hard mask layer over an underlying layer of a substrate, forming an anti-reflective coating layer over the hard mask layer, forming a patterned resist layer over the anti-reflective coating layer, and forming a mandrel including the anti-reflective coating layer by patterning the anti-reflective coating layer using the patterned resist layer as an etch mask. The method includes forming a sidewall spacer on the mandrel including the anti-reflective coating layer, forming a freestanding spacer on the hard mask layer by removing the mandrel from the anti-reflective coating layer, and using the freestanding spacer as an etch mask, patterning the underlying layer of the substrate.

A polypeptide, a photoresist composition including the polypeptide, and a method of forming patterns by using the photoresist composition.

The composition contains a compound and a solvent. The compound includes a group represented by formula (1). The compound has a molecular weight of no less than 200 and has a percentage content of carbon atoms of no less than 40% by mass. In the formula (1), R.sup.1 and R.sup.2 each independently represent a hydrogen atom, a fluorine atom, a monovalent hydrocarbon group having 1 to 20 carbon atoms or a monovalent fluorinated hydrocarbon group having 1 to 20 carbon atoms, or R.sup.1 and R.sup.2 taken together represent a part of an alicyclic structure having 3 to 20 ring atoms constituted together with the carbon atom to which R.sup.1 and R.sup.2 bond; Ar.sup.1 represents a group obtained by removing (n+3) hydrogen atoms from an arene or heteroarene having 6 to 20 ring atoms; and X represents an oxygen atom, —CR.sup.3R.sup.4—, —CR.sup.3R.sup.4—O— or —O—CR.sup.3R.sup.4—. ##STR00001##