Patent ID: 7141352

Claim:
A positive-working resist composition comprising: (A) at least one basic compound having a benzimidazole skeleton and a polar functional group, represented by the general formulae (2) to (7): wherein R 1 is a hydrogen atom, a straight, branched or cyclic alkyl group of 1 to 10 carbon atoms, an aryl group of 6 to 10 carbon atoms, or an aralkyl group of 7 to 10 carbon atoms; R 3 , R 5 , R 9 , R 12 and R 14 are each independently a straight, branched or cyclic alkylene group of 1 to 10 carbon atoms; R 4 is a hydrogen atom or an alkyl group of 1 to 15 carbon atoms which may contain at least one group selected from among hydroxyl, carbonyl, ester, ether, sulfide, carbonate, cyano and acetal groups; R 6 is an alkyl group of 1 to 15 carbon atoms which may contain at least one group selected from among hydroxyl, carbonyl, ester, ether, sulfide, carbonate, cyano and acetal groups; R 7 is a trivalent, straight, branched or cyclic hydrocarbon group of 2 to 10 carbon atoms; R 8 is each independently an acyl group of 1 to 10 carbon atoms which may contain at least one ester or ether group, or two R 8 may bond together to form a cyclic carbonate or cyclic acetal; R 10 is a hydrogen atom or a straight, branched or cyclic alkyl group of 1 to 10 carbon atoms; R 11 is a straight, branched or cyclic alkyl group of 1 to 10 carbon atoms which may contain at least one group selected from among ether, sulfide and acetal groups, or R 10 and R 11 may bond together to form a ring; R 13 is a straight, branched or cyclic alkyl group of 1 to 10 carbon atoms, or two R 13 may bond together to form a ring; (B) an organic solvent; (C) a base resin having an acid labile group-protected acidic functional group which is alkali-insoluble or substantially alkali-insoluble, but becomes alkali-soluble when the acid labile group is eliminated; and (D) a photoacid generator.