Negative resist composition, patterning process, and testing process and preparation process of negative resist composition

A resist patterning process, the resist patterning process by a lithography, comprising, at least,

• (a) forming a resist film having a film thickness of X(nm) of 50 to 100 nm on a substrate to be processed, said resist film being formed by using a negative resist composition comprising at least
• (A) a base resin that is alkaline-soluble and is made alkaline-insoluble by action of an acid, and/or a combination of a base resin that is alkaline-soluble and is made alkaline-insoluble by reaction with a crosslinker by action of an acid, with a crosslinker, wherein the base resin contains a phenolic hydroxyl group, wherein 95% or more by mol of the repeating units constituting the base resin include a monomer structure having an aromatic skeleton, the repeating units constituting the base resin include any combination of the repeating units represented by the following general formulae (1) to (3),
• wherein X represents a chlorine atom, a bromine atom, an iodine atom, a nitro group, or a cyano group;
• R represents a linear, a branched, or a cyclic alkyl or oxoalkyl group having 2 to 10 carbon atoms, or a substituted or an unsubstituted benzoyl or naphthoyl group;
• R′ represents a hydrogen atom, or a linear, a branched, or a cyclic alkyl or oxoalkyl group having 2 to 10 carbon atoms, or a substituted or an unsubstituted benzoyl or naphthoyl group;
• p, q, r, and s represent a positive integer;
• t represents 0 or a positive integer;
• a and b represent 1 or 2;
• c represents an integer of 0 to 3;
• and d represents 0 to 2,
• (B) an acid generator, and
• (C) a compound containing a nitrogen as a basic component,
• (b) exposing the resist film to a high energy beam to form an intended resist pattern, and
• (c) developing the resist film by an alkaline developer to obtain a resist pattern, the dissolution rate of the resist film in the alkaline developer being controlled in the range of 0.0333X−1.0 (nm/second) or more and 0.0667X−1.6 (nm/second) or less by selecting each (A), (B) and (C) component.