Poly(methylmethacrylate) (PMMA) sensitized with an aromatic azide compound (4,4’‐diazidodiphenyl sulfone), was prepared and evaluated as a negative UV resist. The resist was successfully applied to contact printings followed by wet development processing. In this study, both Xe–Hg and Hg lamps were used to evaluate the sensitivity of this new two‐component resist. The sensitivity of this azide–PMMA resist depends on the azide concentration in PMMA solution, and the optimum azide concentration was found to range from 20 to 25 wt. % (based on PMMA weight). It was also found that postannealing of this resist after irradiation at 100 °C for 1/2 h can increase the sensitivity compared to no postannealing treatment. The addition of azide compound was observed to reverse the PMMA resist to negative tone for radiation doses 30 times lower than normally used in positive‐tone PMMA. The range of deep‐UV dose was 20 to 30 mJ/cm2which gave sufficiently good resolution to clearly observe mask features of 1‐μm lines and spaces.