The ultimate lithographic performance of e‐beam direct writing can only be achieved if the proximity effect is reduced by a top surface imaging resist technology. The capability of some commercial and experimental chemically amplified resists for an e‐beam‐sensitive top surface imaging process were evaluated. Analogous to the resist contrast, a silicon contrast was defined, which characterizes the silylation property of the resists very well and enables a comparison of the evaluated resists. The influence of bake and silylation conditions on the silicon contrast was investigated. The patterning results prove that the proximity effect was reduced dramatically. One of the evaluated resists was applied to structuring the metal layers of a 0.8‐μm‐CMOS technology.