Patent ID: 7371510

Claim:
A method for forming a resist pattern using a liquid immersion lithography process, the method comprising: forming a photoresist film on a substrate; forming, on the resist film, a protective film having the following properties of: being transparent with respect to exposure light, having substantially no compatibility with a liquid for liquid immersion lithography, and causing no mixing with the resist film; directly placing the liquid for liquid immersion lithography having a predetermined thickness at least on the protective film on the substrate having the resist film and the protective film stacked thereon; selectively irradiating the resist film with light through the liquid for liquid immersion lithography and the protective film, and optionally subjecting the resultant resist film to heat treatment; removing the protective film from the irradiated resist film; and developing the resist film from which the protective film is removed to obtain a resist pattern and wherein said protective film is formed using a composition comprising a fluorine substituted polymer dissolved in a fluorocarbon solvent.