Pattern doubling by cross-linking of a spacer triggered by residual acid diffusion from a previously developed primary structure into the spacer is a possible option to create structure widths below the nominal resolution of the optical process. An advantage of such a process step would be the self-alignment to the primary structure, which would render a second exposure step unnecessary. Using macroscopic and stochastic modeling approaches, we demonstrate that it may be possible to control the width of the secondary structure created by cross-linking by the amount of quencher base added.