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 an iodized or brominated hydrocarbyl 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 substrate processing apparatus includes a processing chamber providing a processing space for processing a substrate and processing a substrate, a substrate support configured to support the substrate, a blocking plate below the substrate support and configured to prevent supercritical fluid from being directly sprayed onto the substrate, a first supply device configured to supply supercritical fluid under a first condition to the processing chamber, a second supply device configured to supply supercritical fluid under a second condition at a higher temperature than that of supercritical fluid under the first condition to the processing chamber, a discharge device configured to discharge supercritical fluid from the processing chamber, and a control device configured to control operations of the first supply device, the second supply device, and the discharge device. The control device is configured to direct the first supply device to supply supercritical fluid prior to the second supply device.

Provided is an actinic ray-sensitive or radiation-sensitive resin composition including: (A) a resin including a repeating unit (a) represented by Formula (1); (B) a compound that generates an acid by irradiation with actinic rays or radiation; and (C) an organic solvent. A concentration of solid contents of the actinic ray-sensitive or radiation-sensitive resin composition is 4 mass % or less. (in the formula, R.sub.11 and R.sub.12 each independently represent a hydrogen atom, a halogen atom, or a monovalent organic group. R.sub.13 represents a hydrogen atom, a halogen atom, or a monovalent organic group or is a single bond or an alkylene group, and is bonded to L or Ar in the formula to form a ring. L represents a single bond or a divalent linking group. Ar represents an aromatic ring group. n represents an integer of 2 or more.) ##STR00001##

A negative tone photoresist and method for developing the negative tone photoresist is disclosed. For example, the negative tone photoresist includes a solvent, a dissolution inhibitor, and a polymer. The polymer includes a hydroxyl group. The polymer may be greater than 40 weight per cent of a total weight of the negative tone photoresist.

Photoresist compositions comprise: an acid-sensitive polymer comprising a repeating unit comprising an ester acetal group, wherein the acid-sensitive polymer is free of tertiary alkyl ester groups and is substantially free of aromatic groups; a material comprising a base-labile group; a photoacid generator compound that is free of fluorine which generates an acid having a pKa of -2 or greater, and wherein the photoresist composition is free of photoacid generators that generate an acid having a pKa of less than -2; and a solvent.. The photoresist compositions and pattern formation methods using the photoresist compositions find particular use in the formation of fine lithographic patterns in the semiconductor manufacturing industry.

A photolithography method is provided. The photolithography method includes forming a photoresist layer on a wafer, exposing a portion of the photoresist layer by using an exposure device and a mask, and forming a photoresist pattern by removing a non-exposed portion of the photoresist layer. The mask includes a substrate having a main pattern area and a blocking area outside the main pattern area, a main pattern on the main pattern area of the substrate, and a blocking pattern on the blocking area of the substrate. An external circumference of the blocking pattern extends to the maximum area of the mask that may be illuminated by the exposure device or to the outside of the maximum area of the mask.

Provided is a polymer that when used as a main chain scission-type positive resist, can sufficiently inhibit resist pattern collapse, can favorably form a clear resist pattern, and can also improve sensitivity. The polymer includes a monomer unit (A) represented by general formula (I), shown below, and a monomer unit (B) represented by general formula (II), shown below. [In formula (I), R.sup.1 is an organic group including not fewer than 5 and not more than 7 fluorine atoms. In formula (II), R.sup.2 is a hydrogen atom, a fluorine atom, an unsubstituted alkyl group, or a fluorine atom-substituted alkyl group, R.sup.3 is a hydrogen atom, an unsubstituted alkyl group, or a fluorine atom-substituted alkyl group, p and q are each an integer of not less than 0 and not more than 5, and p+q=5.] ##STR00001##

A process for producing a flexographic relief printing plate includes using a photopolymer developing solution. This photopolymer developing solution may comprise butylal alone or butylal and one or more organic cosolvents. It may comprise DPnB and one or more cosolvents and no butylal.

A system and method for depositing a photoresist and utilizing the photoresist are provided. In an embodiment a deposition chamber is utilized along with a first precursor material comprising carbon-carbon double bonds and a second precursor material comprising repeating units to deposit the photoresist onto a substrate. The first precursor material is turned into a plasma in a remote plasma chamber prior to being introduced into the deposition chamber. The resulting photoresist comprises a carbon backbone with carbon-carbon double bonds.

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.