Abstract: A positive resist composition for immersion lithography of the present invention includes a resin component (A) which exhibits increased alkali solubility under the action of acid; and an acid generator component (B) which generates acid on exposure, wherein the resin component (A) includes a cyclic main chain resin (A1) containing a fluorine atom and no acid-dissociable group, and a resin (A2) containing a structural unit (a) derived from an acrylic acid and no fluorine atom.

Abstract: For shortening the time for introducing an inactive gas, such as nitrogen gas, into a load lock chamber of a processing apparatus for substrates, a buffer tank 19 having a capacity larger than that of the load lock chamber 3 is provided in the path of a pipe for introducing the nitrogen gas into the load lock chamber 3 of the processing apparatus. During processing within the processing chamber 2, such as an ashing process and so on, the nitrogen gas is introduced into the load lock chamber 3 from the buffer tank 19 by operating a valve mechanism 21 to increase the pressure within the load lock chamber 3 up to atmospheric pressure.