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.

A salt represented by formula (I): ##STR00001##
wherein Q.sup.1 and Q.sup.2 each independently represent a fluorine atom or a C.sub.1 to C.sub.6 perfluoroalkyl group, R.sup.1 and R.sup.2 each independently represent a hydrogen atom, a fluorine atom or a C.sub.1 to C.sub.6 perfluoroalkyl group, z represents an integer of 0 to 6, X.sup.1 represents *—O—, *—CO—O— or *—O—CO—, * represents a binding site to CR.sup.1R.sup.2 or CQ.sup.1Q.sup.2, L.sup.1 represents a C.sub.1 to C.sub.6 alkanediyl group, R.sup.3 represents a C.sub.5 to C.sub.18 alicyclic hydrocarbon group in which a hydrogen atom may be replaced by a hydroxy group, and in which a methylene group may be replaced by an oxygen atom or a carbonyl group, and which alicyclic hydrocarbon group may have a cyclic ketal structure optionally having a fluorine atom; and Z.sup.+ represents an organic cation.

An immersion liquid is provided comprising an ion-forming component, e.g. an acid or a base, which has a relatively high vapor pressure. Also provided are lithography processes and lithography systems using the immersion liquid.

A resist composition is disclosed which comprises a perovskite material with a structure having a chemical formula selected from ABX.sub.3, A.sub.2BX.sub.4, or ABX.sub.4, wherein A is a compound containing an NH.sub.3 group, B is a metal and X is a halide constituent. The perovskite material may comprise one or more of the following components: halogen-mixed perovskite material; metal-mixed perovskite material, and organic ligand mixed perovsikte material.

A pattern forming method includes: applying an actinic ray-sensitive or radiation- sensitive resin composition onto a substrate to form a resist film; forming an upper layer film on the resist film, using a composition for forming an upper layer film; exposing the resist film having the upper layer film formed thereon; and developing the exposed resist film using a developer including an organic solvent to form a pattern. The composition for forming an upper layer film contains a resin having a repeating unit (a) with a ClogP value of 2.85 or more and a compound (b) with a ClogP of 1.30 or less, and the receding contact angle of the upper layer film with water is 70 degrees or more, a resist pattern formed by the pattern forming method, and a method for manufacturing an electronic device, including the pattern forming method.

A component of an optical system comprises an optical element and a first channel system outside the optical element and through which a cooling fluid can flow, such that, during operation of the optical system, heat generated by electromagnetic radiation incident on the optical element is absorbed and drawn off via the cooling fluid in the first channel system. The component also includes a second channel system through which a cooling fluid can flow to at least partially thermally shield a region of the component from the heat absorbed by the cooling fluid in the first channel system. The second channel system is outside the first channel system in the radial direction relative to the center of the optical element.

A novel onium salt of formula (1) 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 exposure latitude, MEF, and LWR. ##STR00001##

A method for producing an actinic ray-sensitive or radiation-sensitive resin composition having a viscosity of 10 mPa.Math.s or more, the method containing a step 1 of charging at least a resin of which polarity increases by an action of an acid, a photoacid generator, and a solvent as raw materials into a stirring tank, and a step 2 of stirring the raw materials in the stirring tank. A liquid temperature in the stirring tank is controlled to be equal to or lower than a 3.0° C. higher temperature than a liquid temperature at a start of the step 2 throughout the entire step 2, and the control of the liquid temperature in the stirring tank in the step 2 is performed by passing an inert gas through the stirring tank.

A photoresist composition, comprising: a first polymer comprising: a first repeating unit comprising a hydroxyaryl group; a second repeating unit comprising a first acid-labile group; and a third repeating unit comprising a first base-soluble group having a pKa of 12 or less, and not comprising a hydroxyaryl group; wherein the first, second, and third repeating units of the first polymer are different from each other, and the first polymer is free of lactone groups; a second polymer comprising: a first repeating unit comprising a second acid-labile group, a second repeating unit comprising a lactone group, and a third repeating unit comprising a second base-soluble group having a pKa of 12 or less; wherein the first, second, and third repeating units of the second polymer are structurally different from each other; and a solvent, wherein the first polymer and the second polymer are different from each other.

A resist composition containing: (A) a resin containing a repeating unit having an acid-labile group; (B) a photo-acid generator shown by a general formula (B-1); and (C) a solvent, where W.sub.1 represents a cyclic divalent hydrocarbon group having 4 to 12 carbon atoms and containing a heteroatom; W.sub.2 represents a cyclic monovalent hydrocarbon group having 4 to 14 carbon atoms and not containing a heteroatom; Rf represents a divalent organic group shown by the following general formula; and M.sup.+ represents an onium cation. This provides a resist composition and a patterning process that uses the resist composition that show a particularly favorable mask dimension dependency (mask error factor: MEF), LWR, and critical dimension uniformity (CDU) particularly in photolithography where a high-energy beam such as an ArF excimer laser beam is used as a light source. ##STR00001##