Simple cresol epoxy novolac resins have been modified with hydrophilic chains producing surfactant-modified epoxy resins. They have been formulated with catalytic amounts of photoacid generator and solvent and subsequently exposed to deep UV light. With respect to their photochemistry, they behave as conventional chemically amplified negative acting materials, however, their overall lithography is somewhat more novel. For example, they have high contrast behavior and unexposed regions swell in aqueous base developer and peel-off into solution through an apparent adhesion loss at the wafer-photoresist interface.