Patent ID: 8338083

Claim:
A method of forming an electronic device, comprising in sequence: (a) providing a semiconductor substrate comprising one or more layers to be patterned; (b) forming a resist pattern over the one or more layers, the resist pattern comprising a first plurality of openings; (c) heat-treating the resist pattern in a hardbake process to form a hardened resist pattern; (d) treating the hardened resist pattern with a material effective to make alkaline a surface of the resist pattern; (e) applying a layer of a positive-acting composition in the first plurality of openings of the resist pattern, the composition comprising a resin component and an acid generator; (f) flood exposing the layer of the positive-acting composition to conditions causing the acid generator to generate an acid, wherein during the flood exposure an acid-catalyzed deprotection reaction is prevented in regions of the layer of the positive-acting composition in contact with the underlying alkaline-treated resist pattern; and (g) contacting the resist pattern and the layer of the positive-acting composition with a developer solution.