A patterning stack is provided. The patterning stack includes a bottom anti-reflective coating (BARC) layer over a substrate, a photoresist layer having a first etching resistance over the BARC layer, and a top coating layer having a second etching resistance greater than the first etching resistance over the photoresist layer. The top coating layer includes a polymer having a polymer backbone including at least one functional unit of high etching resistance and one or more acid labile groups attached to the polymer backbone or a silicon cage compound.

A method of forming a pattern of a semiconductor device includes: preparing a semiconductor substrate including a cell region and an outer region; applying a photoresist on the semiconductor substrate; irradiating extreme ultraviolet (EUV) light reflected from an EUV mask, onto the photoresist; forming a photoresist pattern in the cell region and the outer region; and etching the semiconductor substrate, using the photoresist pattern as an etch mask. The EUV mask includes: a plurality of main patterns in a first zone, of the EUV mask, corresponding to the cell region; and a first lane and a second lane in a second zone, of the EUV mask, corresponding to the outer region, wherein the first lane and the second lane surround the plurality of main patterns, wherein the first lane has a line-and-space pattern, and the second lane has a protruding pattern.

A film-forming composition for forming a resist underlayer film for a solvent development type resist that is capable of forming a good resist pattern which contains a hydrolysis-condensation product of a hydrolyzable silane compound, at least one substance that is selected from the group consisting of an aminoplast crosslinking agent and a phenoplast crosslinking agent, and a solvent, and wherein the hydrolyzable silane compound contains a hydrolyzable silane represented by formula (1).

A film-forming composition includes a solvent and hydrolysis condensate prepared through hydrolysis and condensation of a hydrolyzable silane compound by using an acidic compound containing two or more acidic groups. The hydrolyzable silane compound contains an amino-group-containing silane with formula (1). R.sup.1 is an organic group containing an amino group. R.sup.2 is a substitutable alkyl, substitutable aryl, substitutable aralkyl, substitutable halogenated alkyl, substitutable halogenated aryl, substitutable halogenated aralkyl, substitutable alkoxyalkyl, substitutable alkoxyaryl, substitutable alkoxyaralkyl, or substitutable alkenyl group, or an organic group containing an epoxy, acryloyl, methacryloyl, mercapto, or a cyano group. R.sup.3 is an alkoxy, aralkyloxy, or acyloxy group or halogen atom. a is an integer of 1 or 2, b of 0 or 1; and a and b satisfy a relation of a+b≤2.

R.sup.1.sub.aR.sup.2.sub.bSi(R.sup.3).sub.4−(a+b)  (1)

A resist underlayer film forming composition capable of forming a flat film that exhibits high etching resistance, a good dry etching rate ratio and a good optical constant, while having good coverage even with respect to a so-called multileveled substrate and having a small difference in the film thickness after embedding. Also, a method for producing a polymer that is suitable for the resist underlayer film forming composition; a resist underlayer film which uses the resist underlayer film forming composition; and a method for producing a semiconductor device. This resist underlayer film forming composition contains: a reaction product of an aromatic compound (A) that has from 6 to 120 carbon atoms, and a compound that is represented by formula (1); and a solvent.

Provided is a silicon-containing layer forming composition for forming a silicon-containing layer which exhibits an anti-reflective function during exposure in a multilayer resist process and, during dry etching, shows a high etching rate against a plasma of fluorine-based gas and a low etching rate against a plasma of oxygen-based gas. The silicon-containing layer forming composition includes a polysiloxane compound having a structural unit of the formula: [(R.sup.1).sub.bR.sup.2.sub.mSiO.sub.n/2] and a solvent. In the formula, R.sup.1 is a group represented by the following formula:

##STR00001##

(where a is an integer of 1 to 5; and a wavy line means that a line which the wavy line intersects is a bond); R.sup.2 is each independently a hydrogen atom, a C.sub.1-C.sub.3 alkyl group, a phenyl group, a hydroxy group, a C.sub.1-C.sub.3 alkoxy group or a C.sub.1-C.sub.3 fluoroalkyl group; b is an integer of 1 to 3; m is an integer of 0 to 2; n is an integer of 1 to 3; and a relationship of b+m+n=4 is satisfied.

A brush polymer for a photoresist, a photoresist composition, and a method of manufacturing an integrated circuit device, the brush polymer including a core and a plurality of side polymer chains, the plurality of side polymer chains being bonded to the core and extending from the core to form a bottle-brush polymer or a star-brush polymer, together with the core, wherein each of the plurality of side polymer chains includes a first repeating unit represented by Formula 1 and a second repeating unit represented by Formula 2:

##STR00001##

A material for forming an organic film contains a polymer having a repeating unit shown by the following general formula (1), and an organic solvent, where AR1 and AR2 each represent a benzene ring or a naphthalene ring which optionally have a substituent; W.sub.1 represents a divalent organic group having 2 to 20 carbon atoms and no aromatic ring, and a methylene group constituting the organic group is optionally substituted with an oxygen atom or a carbonyl group; and W.sub.2 represents a divalent organic group having 6 to 80 carbon atoms and at least one or more aromatic rings. This invention provides: an organic film material being excellent in film formability and enabling high etching resistance and excellent twisting resistance and filling property; a patterning process using this material; and a polymer suitable for such an organic film material. ##STR00001##

A composition for protective film formation can form a flat film that satisfactorily functions as a mask (protection) against wet etchants during semiconductor substrate processing and has a low dry etching rate, the composition having satisfactory covering and recess-filling properties when applied to rugged substrates and having a small thickness difference after the recess filling. A protective film, a resist underlayer film, and a resist-pattern-coated substrate each produced using the composition; and a method for producing a semiconductor device. The composition, which is for forming films for protection against wet etchants for semiconductors, includes an organic solvent and a compound that has a molecular end having a structure including at least one pair of adjoining hydroxyl groups and has a molecular weight of 1,500 or less, wherein particles present therein have an average particle diameter, as determined by a dynamic light scattering method, of 3 nm or smaller.

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.