Aromatic (meth)acrylate compound having an alpha-hydroxy, photosensitive polymer, resist compositions, and associated methods

A photosensitive aromatic (meth)acrylate polymer, the photosensitive aromatic (meth)acrylate polymer including repeating units represented by Formulae 6a, 6b, and 6c:

• wherein, in Formulae 6a to 6c:
• R1 is hydrogen or a methyl,
• R2 is hydrogen, a substituted or unsubstituted alkyl, a substituted or unsubstituted aryl, or combinations thereof,
• AR is a substituted or unsubstituted phenyl ring, or a substituted or unsubstituted aryl having from two to three fused aromatic rings,
• carbon CAR is bonded directly to an aromatic ring of AR,
• R and R′ are independently hydrogen or an alkyl,
• R5 and R7 are independently hydrogen or methyl,
• R6 is a C4 to C20 acid-labile group,
• R8 is a lactone-derived group,
• x is an integer ranging from 1 to 6, and
• p, q, and r are respectively mole ratios of the repeating units of Formulae 6a to 6c, p/(p+q+r) is about 0.2 to about 0.5, q/(p+q+r) is about 0.3 to about 0.5, and r/(p+q+r) is about 0.1 to about 0.4.

A method of patterning a material, the method comprising:

• forming a resist layer on the material;
• forming a resist pattern from the resist layer using a lithographic process;
• and
• patterning the material through the resist pattern, wherein:
• the resist layer includes a photosensitive aromatic (meth)acrylate polymer, the (meth)acrylate polymer including repeating units represented by Formulae 6a, 6b, and 6c:
• wherein, in Formulae 6a to 6c:
• R1 is hydrogen or a methyl,
• R2 is hydrogen, a substituted or unsubstituted alkyl, a substituted or unsubstituted aryl, or combinations thereof,
• AR is a substituted or unsubstituted phenyl ring, or a substituted or unsubstituted aryl having from two to three fused aromatic rings,
• carbon CAR is bonded directly to an aromatic ring of AR,
• R and R′ are independently hydrogen or an alkyl,
• R5 and R7 are independently hydrogen or methyl,
• R6 is a C4 to C20 acid-labile group,
• R8 is a lactone-derived group,
• x is an integer ranging from 1 to 6, and
• p, q, and r are respectively mole ratios of the repeating units of Formulae 6a to 6c, p/(p+q+r) is about 0.2 to about 0.5, q/(p+q+r) is about 0.3 to about 0.5, and r/(p+q+r) is about 0.1 to about 0.4.