Seiko Epson Corporation

Yukihiro Endo

Hidenobu Ota

Osamu Iwamoto

Kazuo Aoki

Takeshi Gomi

A method of forming an inorganic alignment film made substantially of an inorganic material on a base substrate is provided comprising a milling process of irradiating ion beams onto the surface of the base substrate, on which the inorganic alignment film is to be formed, from a direction inclined at a predetermined angle &#x3b8;with respect to a direction vertical to the surface, and a film-forming process of forming the inorganic alignment film on the base substrate onto which the ion beams are irradiated. In the milling process, the predetermined angle &#x3b8;is preferably 2&#xb0; or more. In the milling process, an acceleration voltage of the ion beams during the irradiation of the ion beams is preferably 400 to 1400 V.

Method of forming inorganic alignment film, inorganic alignment film, substrate for electronic device, liquid crystal panel and electronic apparatus

A method for forming an oriented film is provided for forming an oriented film on a base material by irradiating the surface of the base material where the oriented film will be formed with an ion beam comprising nitrogen ions from a direction inclined at a prescribed angle &#x3b8;with respect to the direction perpendicular to the surface, while evaporating carbon from an evaporation source. The prescribed angle, &#x3b8;, is preferably 45-89&#xb0;. The accelerating voltage of the ion beam comprising nitrogen ions is preferably 100-500 V. The electric current of the ion beam comprising nitrogen ions is preferably 10-500 mA.

Method for forming oriented film, oriented film, substrate for electronic device, liquid crystal panel, and electronic device

A method of forming an inorganic alignment film on a base substrate is provided comprising forming a film made substantially of an inorganic material on the base substrate, and irradiating ion beams onto the surface of the film from a direction inclined at a predetermined angle &#x3b8;with respect to the direction vertical to the surface. By irradiating the ion beams onto the film, concave portions having a predetermined directivity are formed on the film. The predetermined angle &#x3b8;is preferably 2&#xb0; or more.

A method of forming an inorganic alignment film is provided comprising a first milling step of irradiating ion beams to a surface of a base substrate, on which the inorganic alignment film is to be formed, from a direction inclined at a predetermined angle &#x3b8;with respect to a direction orthogonal to the surface of the base substrate, a film-forming step of forming a film made substantially of an inorganic material on the base substrate to which the ion beams are irradiated, and a second milling step of irradiating ion beams to a surface of the film from a direction inclined at a predetermined angle &#x3b8;with respect to the direction orthogonal to the surface of the film.

A technique for improving properties of polarizing beam splitters and polarizing conversion elements, and a projection display apparatus having high light utilization efficiency using such polarizing beam splitters are provided. A polarizing beam splitter in accordance with the present invention includes a light transmissive substrate having a refractive index ranging from approximately 1.48 to 1.58, and a polarization separating film formed on the light transmissive substrate. The polarization separating film includes a multilayered structural section formed by alternately arranging MgF,layers and MgO layers. The polarization separating film in accordance with the present invention can improve the transmission property and the reflection property with respect to two types of polarized light. Also, by using the polarization separating film for a polarizing conversion element or a projection display apparatus, it is possible to provide a polarizing conversion element or a projection display apparatus having high light utilization efficiency.

Polarization beam splitter, polarization converter, and projector

An apparatus and method for manufacturing resonant elements such as piezoelectric elements, quartz resonators and other resonant elements while monitoring and regulating the resonance frequencies of the elements are disclosed. A radiation source such as an ion gun provides a plasma to selectively remove portions of an electrode on the resonant element to increase the resonance frequency. The distance between the radiation source and the electrode may be varied while monitoring the resonance frequency and the distance adjusted based on the measured resonance frequency. Different stages with increasing distances between different radiation sources and the resonant element to provide consecutively finer adjustment may be used to consecutively bombard the electrode with ions, with the resonant element being conveyed to the different stages. Oscillators and related devices using the resonant elements are also disclosed.

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Suwa, Japan

Yukihiro Endo