WIRE-GRID POLARIZER AND PROCESS FOR PRODUCING THE SAME

• US 20090052030A1
• Filed: 10/07/2008
• Published: 02/26/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 04/07/2006
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Asahi Glass Company, Limited (AGC, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Asahi Glass Company, Limited (AGC, Inc.)
• Inventors: Sakurai, Hiromi, Sakamoto, Hiroshi, KAIDA, Yuriko, Niwano, Kazuhiko, Asakawa, Akihiko, Kawaguchi, Yasuhide
• Application Number:
  US12/246,524
• Publication Number:
  US 20090052030A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 359/486
• CPC Class Codes: B82Y 10/00 Nanotechnology for information processing, storage or transmission, e.g. quantum computing or single electron logic
• CPC Class Codes: B82Y 40/00 Manufacture or treatment of nanostructures
• CPC Class Codes: C08F 214/186 with non-fluorinated comonomers
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 5/3058 comprising electrically conductive elements, e.g. wire grids, conductive particles
• CPC Class Codes: G03F 7/0002 Lithographic processes using patterning methods other than those involving the exposure to radiation, e.g. by stamping

Abstract

The present invention provides a wire-grid polarizer showing high polarization separation ability in the visible light region and is excellent in heat resistance and durability; and a process for producing such a wire-grid polarizer with high productivity, which enables to produce a polarizer of large area.

A process for producing a wire-grid polarizer, comprising a step of coating a supporting substrate with a photocurable composition, a step of pressing a mold having a plurality of parallel grooves at a constant pitch against the photocurable composition so that the grooves contact with the photocurable composition, a step of curing the photocurable composition in a state that the mold is pressed against the photocurable composition, to form a light-transmitting substrate having a plurality of ridges corresponding to the grooves of the mold, a step of separating the mold from the light-transmitting substrate, and a step of forming fine metalic wires on the ridges of the light-transmitting substrate.

Claims

1. A process for producing a wire-grid polarizer, comprising a step of coating a supporting substrate with a photocurable composition, a step of pressing a mold having a plurality of parallel grooves at a constant pitch against the photocurable composition so that the grooves contact with the photocurable composition, a step of curing the photocurable composition in a state that the mold is pressed against the photocurable composition, to form a light-transmitting substrate having a plurality of ridges corresponding to the grooves of the mold, a step of separating the mold from the light-transmitting substrate, and a step of forming fine metalic wires on the ridges of the light-transmitting substrate.

2. The process for producing the wire-grid polarizer according to claim 1, which further comprises a step of separating the supporting substrate from the light-transmitting substrate.

3. The process for producing the wire-grid polarizer according to claim 1, wherein the photocurable composition is one for producing the following photocured resin having the following physical property after curing:

a photocured resin having a refractive index (nd) of from 1.3 to 1.6, and a visible light transmittance of at least 93% when the thickness is 200 μ

um.

4. The process for producing Et wire-grid polarizer according to claim 1, wherein the photocurable composition is one for producing the following photocured resin having the following physical property after curing:

a photocured resin having a contact angle of at least 90°

with water.

5. The process for producing a wire-grid polarizer according to claim 1, wherein the photocurable composition is one for producing the following photocured resin having the following physical property after curing:

a photocured resin having a Vicat softening temperature of at least 150°

C.

6. The process for producing a wire-grid polarizer according to claim 1, wherein the photocurable composition is the following photocurable composition:

a photocurable composition containing from 50 to 98 mass % of monomer containing no fluorine atom, from 0.1 to 45 mass % of fluorine-containing monomer, from more than 0.1 to 20 mass % of a fluorine-containing surfactant and/or a fluorine-containing polymer, and from 1 to 10 mass % of a photo-polymerization initiator, which contains substantially no solvent, and which has a viscosity of from 1 to 200 mPa·

s at 25°

C.

7. The process for producing a wire-grid polarizer according to claim 1, wherein the fluorine-containing monomer in the photocurable composition is the fluorine-containing monomer represented by the following formula (1) or formula (2):

CF₂═

CR¹-Q-CR²═

CH₂ 

 

(1)

(CH₂═

CXCOO)_nR^F 

 

(2)

wherein in formula (1), R¹ and R² are each independently a hydrogen atom, a fluorine atom, an alkyl group containing 1 to 3 carbon atoms, or a fluoroalkyl group containing from 1 to 3 carbon atoms, and Q is an oxygen atom, a group represented by —

NR³—

(wherein R³ is a hydrogen atom, an alkyl group containing 1 to 6 carbon atoms, an alkylcarbonyl group or a tosyl group), or a divalent organic group that may have a functional group;

wherein in formula (2), n is an integer of from 1 to 4, X is a hydrogen atom, a fluorine atom, a methyl group or a trifluoromethyl group, and R^F is a n-valent fluorine-containing organic group containing from 1 to 30 carbon atoms.

8. The process for producing a wire-grid polarizer according to claim 1, which uses an oblique deposition method to form fine metalic wires on the ridges of the light-transmitting substrate.

9. The process for producing a wire-grid polarizer according to claim 1, wherein the pitch of grooves on the mold is at most 300 nm.

10. A wire-grid polarizer produced by the process as defined in claim 1.