International Business Machines Corporation

Takeshi Yamada

Hiroaki Kitahara

Shigetaka Kobayashi

Tatsuya Nishiwaki

Yasuhiko Shiota

Hideo Kimura

Johji Nakagaki

Akihiro Asahara

Masaki Hanada

An apparatus and method for forming an alignment layer with uniform orientation is provided. An alignment layer-forming apparatus includes an ion source for generating ion beams and one or more masks disposed between the ion source and a substrate. The masks each have a reflective face directed to the substrate. The ion beams are reflected between the reflective face of each mask and a thin-film which is disposed on the substrate and which is processed into an alignment layer, whereby the alignment layer is formed with the ion beam finally applied to the thin-film. The orientation of a liquid crystal can be rendered uniform by varying the shape and/or arrangement of the reflective face of the mask. Hence, a liquid crystal display with no brightness or color non-uniformity can be manufactured.

Apparatus and method for forming an alignment layer

A bonding method and apparatus for performing same in which a first member (e.g., a silicon chip) is bonded to a second member (e.g., a glass substrate such as a PCB) using a thermosetting resin adhesive. Near infrared rays are directed onto the second member, some of these passing through the second member to also heat the adhesive. A heater is pressed onto the first member and also heats the first member. Selective cooling is also utilized to assure an acceptable temperature gradient between both members and thereby prevent distortion of same which could harm the resulting structure.

Bonding method and apparatus

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Kusatsu, Japan

Takeshi Yamada