Patent ID: 8455183

Claim:
A resist pattern slimming treatment method of performing a slimming treatment on a resist pattern formed on a substrate, comprising: a slimming treatment step of performing a slimming treatment to slim a line width of lines made of resist material in the resist pattern by applying a first solution containing an acid onto the substrate having the resist pattern formed thereon to an extent of a predetermined height from a front surface of the substrate, then applying a second solution containing an acid with a concentration higher than a concentration of the acid contained in the first solution, onto the substrate on which the first solution has been applied, then performing a heat treatment, and then performing a developing treatment, providing a database storing kinds of the resist material for the resist pattern, concentrations of acid contained in a solution to be applied onto the substrate having the resist pattern formed thereon, and line widths of the resist pattern corresponding to the kinds of resist material and the concentrations of acid, inputting a search of the database, using, as search keys, the kind of the resist material and a target value of the line width of the resist pattern, wherein the concentration of the acid contained in the first solution used in said slimming treatment step is selected from the concentration of the acid returned from the database search based on the kind of resist material and the target value of the line width of a portion of the resist pattern lower than the predetermined height from the front surface of the substrate, and wherein the concentration of the acid contained in the second solution used in said slimming treatment step is selected from the concentration of the acid returned from the database search based on the kind of resist material and the target value of the line width of a portion of the resist pattern higher than the predetermined height from the front surface of the substrate.