The present invention is a resist material containing a base polymer and an acid generator, where the resist material contains, as the acid generator, a sulfonium salt or iodonium salt of a sulfonic 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 an acid generator 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 and low CDU in both a positive resist material and a negative resist material; and a patterning process using the same.

An actinic ray-sensitive or radiation-sensitive resin composition includes a resin whose solubility in an aqueous alkali solution increases by the action of an acid, a compound that generates an acid upon irradiation with actinic rays or radiation, an ester compound, and a fluorine-containing polymer, in which the ester compound has alkali decomposability and has a molecular weight of 50 or more and less than 1,500.

An object of the present invention is to provide a pattern forming method with which a pattern having excellent resolution performance and LER performance can be formed. In addition, another object of the present invention is to provide a method for manufacturing an electronic device, an actinic ray-sensitive or radiation-sensitive resin composition, and a resist film.

A pattern forming method of the present invention includes a resist film forming step of forming a resist film on a substrate using an actinic ray-sensitive or radiation-sensitive resin composition, an exposing step of exposing the resist film, and a developing step of positively developing the exposed resist film using an organic solvent-based developer, in which the actinic ray-sensitive or radiation-sensitive resin composition includes a resin having a polar group, a compound including two or more ion pairs which are decomposed by an irradiation with an actinic ray or a radiation and having a molecular weight of 5,000 or less, and a solvent.

An actinic ray-sensitive or radiation-sensitive resin composition includes a salt including a sulfonium cation having an aryl group substituted with an acid-decomposable group-containing group and having at least three fluorine atoms; and a resin having a polarity that increases through decomposition by an action of an acid, in which the acid-decomposable group-containing group includes a group having a polarity that increases through decomposition by an action of an acid, and the acid-decomposable group-containing group includes no fluorine atom.

An actinic ray-sensitive or radiation-sensitive resin composition containing: a resin (P) of which a solubility in a developer changes by an action of an acid; a compound (A) that has a group (a) having a polarity which changes through decomposition by an action of an acid, and generates an acid (ac1) upon irradiation with actinic rays or radiation; a compound (B) that generates an acid (ac2) having a higher pKa than the acid (ac1) generated from the compound (A), upon irradiation with actinic rays or radiation; and a basic compound (C).

A method for measuring a distance of diffusion of a curing catalyst for a thermosetting silicon-containing material includes the steps of: forming a silicon-containing film from a composition containing a thermosetting silicon-containing material, a curing catalyst and a solvent; coating the silicon-containing film with a photosensitive resin composition containing a resin whose solubility in alkaline developer is increased by the action of an acid, an acid generator and a solvent, and subsequently heating to prepare a substrate on which the silicon-containing film and a resin film are formed; irradiating the substrate with a high energy beam or an electron beam to generate an acid and heat-treating the substrate to increase the solubility of the resin in an alkaline developer by the action of the acid in the resin film; dissolving the resin film in an alkaline developer; and measuring a film thickness of the remaining resin.

A resist composition including: a compound including an anion moiety and a cation moiety and represented by the following Formula (bd1); and an organic solvent having a hydroxyl group in which Rx.sup.1 to Rx.sup.4 each represent a hydrocarbon group or a hydrogen atom, or may be bonded to each other to form a ring structure; Ry.sup.1 and Ry.sup.2 each independently represent a hydrocarbon group or a hydrogen atom, or may be bonded to each other to form a ring structure; Rz.sup.1 to Rz.sup.4 each represent a hydrocarbon group or a hydrogen atom, or may be bonded to each other to form a ring structure; at least one of Rx.sup.1 to Rx.sup.4, Ry.sup.1 and Ry.sup.2 and Rz.sup.1 to Rz.sup.4 has an anionic group; and M.sup.m+ represents an organic cation) ##STR00001##

A resist composition comprising a base polymer and an acid generator containing a sulfonium salt having the formula (1) or an iodonium salt having the formula (2). ##STR00001##

A positive resist composition comprising a base polymer comprising recurring units having a carboxyl group whose hydrogen is substituted by a pyridine ring-containing tertiary hydrocarbyl group.

A radiation-sensitive resin composition includes: a resin containing a structural unit A represented by formula (1); at least one radiation-sensitive acid generator selected from the group consisting of a radiation-sensitive acid generator represented by formula (2-1) and a radiation-sensitive acid generator represented formula (2-2); and a solvent. At least one R.sup.3 is an acid-dissociable group; and R.sup.41 is a hydrogen atom or a protective group to be deprotected by action of an acid. At least one of R.sup.f1 and R.sup.f2 is a fluorine atom or a fluoroalkyl group; R.sup.5a is a monovalent organic group having a cyclic structure; X.sub.1.sup.+ is a monovalent onium cation; R.sup.5b is a monovalent organic group, and X.sub.2.sup.+ is a monovalent onium cation whose atom having a positive charge is not an atom forming a cyclic structure. ##STR00001##