The dry etching resistance of ArF resist patterns was improved by irradiating vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) light with a wavelength of 172 nm to ArF resist patterns in N2 atmosphere. The density of C=O bonds of the resists is decreased, and the dry etching rate of resist is also decreased after VUV irradiation. The line width shrinkage by the electron beam irradiation of CD-SEM was greatly improved from 9 nm to 2 nm, and LER (Line Edge Roughness) of resist patterns was approximately 2 nm improved from 8.4 nm to 6.5 nm under VUV irradiation. Using VUV cure, the dry etching pattern of a SiN film showed a rectangle-like cross-sectional view, and indicated almost the same LER value as the resist mask pattern. The VUV cure technique is an attractive method of fine resist pattern fabrication by ArF lithography.