The use of the tetrapropylammonium hydroxide (TPAH) and tetrabutylammonium hydroxide (TBAH) aqueous developer solutions is proposed as an alternative to the tetramethylammonium hydroxide (TMAH) aqueous developer solution (semiconductor industry standard). A polyhydroxystyrene-based extreme ultraviolet (EUV) resist was utilized at a film thickness of 60 nm. To confirm the effectiveness of these alternative developer solutions in improving linewidth roughness (LWR) performance, patterning exposures were carried out using the small field exposure tool with annular (sigma(outer)0.7/sigma(inner)0.3) illumination conditions. Dissolution contrast curves of EUV resist using the TMAH, TPAH, and TBAH developer solutions have shown similar dissolution characteristics which means that the use of these alternative developer solutions might have minimal effect on the resist resolution limit and sensitivity. Imaging performance analysis results have shown negligible effect on the resolution capability and sensitivity. A 20% LWR improvement was observed with the TBAH developer solution [7.2 nm at 32 nm 1:1 line and space (L/S)] comparing with the TPAH and standard TMAH developer solutions (both at 9.0 nm at 32 nm 1:1 L/S). This improvement was perceived to be the result of the significant increase in dissolution contrast (higher R-max and larger slope) with the use of the TBAH developer solution.