According to one embodiment, a polymer material is disclosed. The polymer material contains a polymer. The polymer contains a first monomer unit having a lone pair and an aromatic ring at a side chain, and a second monomer unit including a crosslinking group at a terminal of the side chain, with its molar ratio of 0.5 mol % to 10 mol % to all monomer units in the polymer. The polymer material can be used for manufacturing a composite film as a mask pattern for processing a target film on a substrate. The composite film can be formed by a process including, forming an organic film on the target film with the polymer material, patterning the organic film, and forming the composite film by impregnating a metal compound into the patterned organic film.