Patent ID: 7300880

Claim:
A method for forming a photoresist pattern comprising: (a) preparing a gas protection composition comprising a water-soluble polymer selected from the group consisting of copolymers of methyl methacrylate and acrylic acid, copolymers of methyl acrylate and acrylic acid, and mixtures thereof; (b) forming an etching mask layer on an underlying layer; (c) applying a photoresist composition including silicon on the etching mask layer to form a photoresist film; (d) applying the gas protection composition on the photoresist film, thereby forming a gas protection film; (e) performing a photolithography process on the resulting structure to form a photoresist film pattern; (f) etching the etching mask layer of step (b) using the photoresist film pattern as an etching mask to form an etching mask pattern; and, (g) forming an underlying layer pattern by an etching process using the etching mask pattern.