The response of evaporated layers of doped AgBr to irradiation with el
ectrons is studied. The sensitivity, gamma value and maximum density a
re determined at various accelerating voltages. Resolution of 0.15 mu
m wide lines is achieved at extremely high sensitivity -10(-9) C/cm(2)
, which is 2 to 4 orders of magnitude higher than that of commercial r
esists used in E-beam lithography. It is established that the distribu
tion of latent image centres in the bulk of AgBr microcrystals is simi
lar to that of exposure to visible light and X-ray. On this basis the
mechanism of the photographic process is discussed.