Dissolution inhibition in positive resists is brought about by an inductive polarization effect of strong hydrogen accepters, which creates hydrogen-bonded strings of OH groups. The acidity of the OH groups bound in the strings is considerably lower than that of phenols in the bulk of the system. It is the reduction in the concentration of protons in equilibrium with the various parts of the resin that lowers the rate of phenol deprotonation and with it the rate of resin dissolution. Here we describe changes in the pK(a) of the resin in the presence of hydrogen accepters (dissolution inhibitiors) and we demonstrate the existence of a quantitative link between acidity changes and inhibition factors.