7 each represent independently hydrogen a substituted or non substituted straight or branched c 1 c 5 alkyl group cycloalkyl alkoxyalkyl or cycloalkoxyalkyl and p is an integer preferably p has a value of 1 u02dc 3 in table 1b above r 8 r 15 each represent independently hydrogen hydroxy substituted or non substituted straight or branched c 1 c 5 alkyl cycloalkyl alkoxyalkyl or cycloalkoxyalkyl and r 16 and r 17 each independently represent an alkyl group the anti reflective coating composition of the present invention is prepared by dissolving a polymer of general formula 1 2 or 3 above in an organic solvent and subsequently adding thereto one or more compounds selected from the above tables 1a and 1b the organic solvent used for the preparation can be any suitable conventional organic solvent preferably a solvent selected from the group consisting of ethyl 3 ethoxypropionate methyl 3 methoxypropionate cyclohexanone propylene glycol and methyletheracetate the amount of the solvent used in preparing the anti reflective coating composition according to the present invention is preferably 200 5000 w w with respect to the weight of the polymer used an anti reflective coating of the present invention can be provided on a semiconductor silicon wafer by filtering a solution of a polymer of general formula 1 2 or 3 alone or a composition containing a polymer of general formula 1 2 or 3 and one or more of the light absorbing compounds set forth in tables 1a.