As the semiconductor community continues to follow the Semiconductor Industry Association Roadmap, resist structures are being printed further into the nanometer domain. However, a persistent issue for successful sub-60 nm resist patterning is mechanical stability at high aspect ratios. The objective of this article is to understand what processing conditions facilitate processing resist nanostructures with useful aspect ratios for the fabrication of sub-60 nm transistors. We have found that, in aqueous based development and rinse, if the resist thickness is reduced, then the aspect ratio is sacrificed for the sake of resolution. The implication is that there is a resolution limit at which resist structures will have aspect ratios that are useful for device fabrication. We have also found that there are development effects that occur in the thick film regime that are not reproducible with thin films. The best resolution structures we have been able to print are lines of 28 nm in width using direct write electron-beam lithography on negative chemically amplified resists NEB-22 and NEB-31 (Sumitomo Chemical inc.) with an aspect ratio of about 3. To put this result in perspective, this is about 40 molecules wide.