Stabilization of chemically amplified resist coating

Environmental contamination of chemically amplified resist used in lithography is overcome by use of a coating, such as a thin layer of a charge dissipation material, applied over the fresh CAR layer. This overcoat stabilizes process control and also makes it possible to precoat the CAR on wafer or mask blanks, making them usable even several months after the coating takes place. The overcoating is a conductive material in the electron beam lithography regime, thereby providing charge dissipation during electron beam exposure improving accuracy. The conductive material is, for instance, a liquid organic conductive material at its application, such as PanAquas, or a thin layer of sputtered or evaporated metal.