There is provided an underlayer coating that causes no intermixing with photoresist layer, can be formed by a spin-coating method, and can be used as a hard mask in lithography process of manufacture of semiconductor device. Concretely, it is an underlayer coating forming composition used in manufacture of semiconductor device including metal nitride particles having an average particle diameter of 1 to 1000 nm, and an organic solvent. The metal nitride particles contain at least one element selected from the group consisting of titanium, silicon, tantalum, tungsten, cerium, germanium, hafnium, and gallium.