Polymer, resist composition, and patterning process

A polymer comprising recurring units having the general formulae (1a), (1b), and (1c):

• wherein R1a, R1b and R1c are each independently hydrogen, fluorine or a straight or branched C1-C4 alkyl or fluoroalkyl group, R2a is hydrogen, —R3—CO2R7, or —R3—OR7, R2c is a straight, branched or cyclic C2-C20 fluoroalkyl group, R3 is a divalent organic group which may contain fluorine, R4 is a methylene group or oxygen atom, R5 is hydrogen, methyl or trifluoromethyl, R6 is a straight, branched or cyclic C2-C20 fluoroalkyl group, R7 is hydrogen, a straight, branched or cyclic C1-C20 alkyl or fluoroalkyl group, acid labile group or adhesive group, the subscripts “a,” “b” and “c” are numbers satisfying 0≦a<1, 0<b<1, 0≦c<1, and 0<a+b+c≦1,
• said polymer having a weight average molecular weight of 1,000 to 500,000.