Inventive
silsesquioxane polymers are provided, and
resist compositions that contain such
silsesquioxane polymers are provided in which at least a portion of the
silsesquioxane polymer contains fluorinated moieties, and at least a portion of the silisesquioxane
polymer contains pendant
solubility inhibiting acid-labile moieties that have low
activation energy for acid-catalyzed cleaving, and the presence of high
optical density moieties are minimized or avoided. The inventive
polymer also contains pendant polar moieties that promote alkaline
solubility of the
resist in aqueous alkaline solutions. The inventive polymers are particularly useful in positive
resist compositions. The invention encompasses methods of using such resist compositions in forming a patterned structure on a substrate, and particularly multilayer (e.g.
bilayer) photolithographic methods, which methods are capable of producing
high resolution images at wavelengths such as 193 nm and 157 nm.