Patent ID: 8137874

Claim:
A method of forming a patterned material layer on a substrate, the method comprising: (a) providing a substrate having a surface; (b) depositing an antireflective coating layer comprising an antireflective coating composition on the substrate surface by spin coating, upon which an uniaxial optical gradient is formed within said antireflective coating layer in a direction orthogonal to the substrate surface; (c) depositing a photoresist composition on the antireflective coating layer to form a photoresist layer; (d) optionally applying a topcoat layer; (e) pattern-wise exposing the coated substrate to an imaging radiation; (f) contacting the coated substrate with a developer for removing a portion of the photoresist layer, and, if present, for removing the topcoat layer, to thereby form a patterned photoresist layer wherein the antireflective coating composition comprises: (a) a plurality of polymer components that chemically differ from each other, wherein at least one polymer component is selected from the group consisting of a polybisphenol, a polysulfone, a polycarbonate, a polyhydroquinone, a polyphthalate, a polybenzoate, a polyphenylether, a polyhydroquinone alkylate, a polycarbamate and a polymalonate and mixtures thereof and wherein said plurality of polymer components contain at least one moiety being a chromophore to a preselected imaging radiation wavelength and at least one moiety transparent to the preselected imaging radiation wavelength, (b) a separate crosslinking component, and (c) an acid generator, wherein the plurality of polymer components comprises two components which substantially segregate between a first interface, the first interface being between the antireflective coating layer and the substrate, and a second interface, the second interface being between the antireflective coating layer and the photoresist layer; wherein said polymer components are random copolymers; and wherein said polymer components comprise a plurality of reactive sites distributed along said polymer for reaction with said crosslinking component.