resist layer moreover homologs or polymers related to the phenol formaldehyde component may be substituted therefor to form the layer 14 in accordance with applicant 39 s invention the relatively thin layer 14 fig1 is baked after being coated on the top surface of the layer 12 illustratively baking is carried out for approximately 60 minutes at a temperature in the range 140 to 300 degrees c as a result of the baking step adhesion between the layers 12 and 14 is enhanced in practice a tenacious bond therebetween results moreover the material of the layer 14 is substantially entirely cross linked during baking consequently the layer 14 does not dissolve in and is not deleteriously affected by the solvent portion of the subsequently applied standard resist formulation as shown in fig2 a standard resist layer 16 is formed on top of the relatively thin layer 14 by way of example the relatively thick layer 16 is typically spin coated on the layer 14 to a thickness of approximately 0 4 to 2 u03bcm an excellent bond is thereby formed between the substantially identical or similar layers 14 and 16 next specified regions of the resist layer 16 are irradiated to define a pattern therein in accordance with conventional lithographic techniques known in the art then for a positive resist the irradiated regions of the layer 16 are removed in a standard developing.