Composition for coating over a photoresist pattern comprising a lactam

A process for manufacturing a microelectronic device, comprising;

• a) providing a substrate with a photoresist pattern;
• b) coating the photoresist pattern with an aqueous coating composition for coating a photoresist pattern, comprising a polymer comprising at least one lactam group, where the lactam group attached to the polymer has a structure (1),
• where R1 is independently selected from hydrogen, C1-C4 alkyl, C1-C6 alkyl alcohol, hydroxy (OH), amine (NH2), carboxylic acid, and amide (CONH2), represents the attachment to the polymer, m=1-6, and n=1-4, further where the lactam group is present in the polymer in the range of 16-43 mole %;
• c) reacting a portion of the coating material in contact with the photoresist pattern;
• d) removing a portion of the coating material which is not reacted with a removal solution.