sensitive resin composition of the invention is coated on a substrate by a proper coating method such as spin coating, roll coating, flow coating, dip coating, spray coating, or doctor coating, and then the composition is subjected to pre-baking at 60° C. to 150° C. for 1 min to 20 min, preferably at 80° C. to 130° C. for 1 min to 10 min to form a film. The thickness of the coated film is preferably 30 nm to 200 nm. 

[0480] The substrates suitable for the invention are a silicon substrate and a substrate provided with a metal deposited film or a film containing a metal, and more suitable substrates are substrates provided with a deposited film of Cr, Mo Si, TaSi, or oxides or nitrides thereof on the surface. 

[0481] The invention also relates to a resist-coated mask blank obtained by coating the resist film formed as above. For obtaining such a resist-coated mask blank, in the case of forming a resist pattern on a photomask blank for the manu› facture of a photomask, a transparent substrate of quartz or calcium fluoride is used. In general, necessary functional films such as a light-shielding film, an antireflection film, further, a phase shift film, additionally an etching stopper film, and an etching mask film are laminated on a substrate. Functional films containing such materials as silicon, or tran› sition metals, e.g., chromium, molybdenum, zirconium, tan› talum, tungsten, titanium and niobium are laminated. The materials which are used for the outermost surface layer include materials comprising silicon, or materials comprising silicon and oxygen and/or nitrogen as main components, silicon compound materials comprising the materials con› taining transition metals as the main components in addition to the above silicon components, and transition metal com› pound materials comprising materials containing transition metals, in particular, one or more kinds selected from chro› mium, molybdenum, zirconium, tantalum, tungsten, titanium and niobium, or further containing one or more elements selected from oxygen, nitrogen and carbon as the main com› ponents are exemplified. 

[0482] The light-shielding film may be a single layer but is more preferably a multiple layered structure by recoating a plurality of materials, one on another. In the case of a multiple layered structure, the layer thickness per one layer is not especially restricted, but is preferably 5 nm to 100 nm, and more preferably 10 nm to 80 nm. The thickness of the light› shielding material at large is not especially restricted but is preferably 5 nm to 200 nm, and more preferably 10 nm to 150 nm. 

[0483] When a pattern is formed by using the actinic ray› sensitive or radiation-sensitive resin composition on a photo› mask blank having the outermost surface layer of the material generally containing oxygen and nitrogen in chromium, of the above materials, trailing is formed in the vicinity of the substrate and liable to be a tapered form, but when the com› position of the invention is used, a tapered form can be improved as compared with conventional materials. 

[0484] In the next place, the resist film is subjected to irra› diation with an actinic ray or radiation ( electron beam and the like), and development, preferably after baking (usually 80° C. to 150° C., and preferably 90° C. to 130° C.), thereby a good pattern can be obtained. A semiconductor fine circuit, a mold structure for imprinting, a photomask and the like are manufactured by using the pattern as the mask and properly performing etching treatment, ion injection and the like. 

[0485] Incidentally, the processes in the case of manufac› turing a mold for imprinting with the composition of the invention are described, for example, in Japanese Patent 

4109085, JP-A-2008-162101, and compiled by Yoshihiko Hirai, Fundamentals, Technical Development and Develop› ment of Applications of Nano-Imprinting-Techniques on The Substrates And The Latest Technical Development of Nano-Imprinting, published by Frontier Publishing Com› pany. 

## <Topcoat Composition> 

[0486] In the pattern forming method of the invention, a topcoat layer may be formed on the above-described resist film. The topcoat composition used for forming the topcoat layer is described below. 

[0487] The solvent for the topcoat composition in the invention is preferably water or an organic solvent, and more preferably water. 

[0488] When the solvent for the topcoat composition is an organic solvent, the resist film is preferably insoluble in the solvent. The usable solvents are alcohol-based solvents, fluo› rine-based solvents and hydrocarbon-based solvents, and non-fluorine alcohol-based solvents are more preferably used. As the alcohol-based solvents, primary alcohols are preferably used from the point of coating property, and more preferably primary alcohols having 4 to 8 carbon atoms. The primary alcohols having 4 to 8 carbon atoms may be linear, branched or cyclic, but linear or branched alcohols are pref› erably used. The specific examples thereof include, for example, 1-butanol, 1-hexanol, 1-pentanol, and 3-methyl-1- butanol. 

[0489] When the solvent for the topcoat composition of the invention is water, it is preferred for the composition to con› tain a water-soluble resin. By such selection, it is presumed that the uniformity of the wettability by the developer can be further enhanced. As preferred water-soluble resins, poly› acrylic acid, polymethacrylic acid, polyhydroxystyrene, polyvinyl pyrrolidone, polyvinyl alcohol, polyvinyl ether, polyvinyl acetal, polyacrylimide, polyethylene glycol, poly› ethylene oxide, polyethyleneimine, polyester polyol, poly› ether polyol, and polysaccharide are exemplified. Especially preferred are polyacrylic acid, polymethacrylic acid, polyhy› droxystyrene, polyvinyl pyrrolidone, and polyvinyl alcohol. Incidentally, water-soluble resins are not limited to homopolymers alone, and copolymers can also be used. For example, copolymers having monomers corresponding to the repeating unit of homopolymers described above and other monomer units may be used. Specifically, acrylic acid-meth› acrylic acid copolymers, and acrylic acid-hydroxystyrene copolymers can also used in the invention. Further, as the resins for the topcoat composition, resins having an acidic group as described in JP-A-2009-134177 and JP-A-2009- 91798 can also be preferably used. 

[0490] The weight average molecular weight of the water› soluble resin is not particularly limited, but is preferably 2,000 to 1,000,000, more preferably 5,000 to 500,000, and especially preferably 10,000 to 100,000. The weight average molecular weight of the resin is the molecular weight in terms of polystyrene measured by GPC ( carrier: THF or N-methyl- 2-pyrrolidone (NMP)). 

[0491] The pH of the topcoat is not especially restricted, but is preferably 1 to 10, more preferably 2 to 8, and especially preferably 3 to 7. 

[0492] When the solvent for the topcoat composition is an organic solvent, the topcoat composition preferably contains 

