A resist pattern is formed by coating a chemically amplified positive resist composition onto a substrate and prebaking to form a resist film, exposing to high-energy radiation, baking and developing with a developer to form a resist pattern, and heating the pattern for profile correction to such an extent that the line width may not undergo a change of at least 10%. An amount of a softening accelerator having a molecular weight of up to 800 is added to the resist composition comprising (A) a base resin, (B) an acid generator, (C) a nitrogen-containing compound, and (D) an organic solvent.