Optical: systems and elements – Single channel simultaneously to or from plural channels – By surface composed of lenticular elements
Reexamination Certificate
2000-12-22
2002-10-22
Epps, Georgia (Department: 2873)
Optical: systems and elements
Single channel simultaneously to or from plural channels
By surface composed of lenticular elements
C359S620000, C359S622000, C264S001320, C264S001700, C216S026000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06469832
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing a microlens substrate, and to a microlens substrate, an opposing substrate for a liquid crystal panel, a liquid crystal panel, and a projection display apparatus.
DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED ART
Hitherto, a projection display apparatus for projecting images on a screen has been known. In a projection display apparatus of this type, liquid crystal panels (liquid crystal optical shutters) are generally used for forming images.
A liquid crystal panel having such a configuration is known, which is provided with a number of minute microlenses in positions, each corresponding to a pixel of the liquid crystal panel. The microlenses are generally formed on a microlens substrate provided in the liquid crystal panel.
FIG. 9
is a schematic longitudinal-sectional view showing the configuration of a microlein; substrate used in the known liquid crystal panel.
As show n in the drawing, a microlens substrate
900
includes a glass substrate
902
provided with a number of concavities
903
, and a glass layer
908
bonded to the glass substrate
902
via a resin layer
909
on a surface of the glass substrate
902
provided with the concavities
903
. Microlenses
904
are formed in the resin layer
909
with a resin filling the concavities
903
.
The microlens substrate
900
is formed in a process such that the resin before curing is supplied onto the glass substrate
902
, the glass layer
908
is bonded to the glass substrate
902
via the resin, and the resin layer
909
is formed by curing the resin.
When the glass layer
908
is bonded to the glass substrate
902
in manufacturing the microlens substrate
900
, the thickness of the resin layer
909
has been regulated by controlling the force and the time for pressing the glass layer
908
onto the glass substrate
902
.
However, limitation of improving accuracy in regulating the thickness of the resin layer
909
by such a method has been noticed.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a method for manufacturing a microlens substrate, and to provide a microlens substrate, an opposing substrate for a liquid crystal panel, a liquid crystal panel, and a projection display apparatus, in which the thickness of a resin layer can be regulated with high accuracy.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
To the end, according to the present invention, a method for manufacturing a microlens substrate comprises the steps of supplying a resin onto a first substrate provided thereon with a plurality of concavities; bonding the first substrate to a second substrate via the resin; and forming microlenses with the resin filling the concavities. The first substrate and the second substrate are bonded to each other by providing a resin including a spacer outside a region in which the concavities are formed.
The resin forming the microlenses and the resin including the spacer preferably include the same material. The spacer may include particles or globular particles. The resin including the spacer may contain 1 to 50 percent by weight of the spacer. The second substrate may be made of glass.
A microlens substrate comprises a first substrate provided thereon with a plurality of concavities; a resin layer provided so as to cover the concavities, and microlenses formed with a resin filling the concavities. A spacer for regulating the thickness of the resin layer is provided outside an effective lens-region including the microlenses.
The spacer is preferably provided in the vicinity of an edge of the microlens substrate. The microlens substrate may be substantially quadrilateral and the spacer may be provided in the vicinity of at least three sides of the quadrilateral. The spacer may include particles or globular particles. The standard deviation of particle-size distribution of the spacer may be not greater than 20 percent of an average particle size of the spacer. The density of the spacer may be 0.5 to 2.0 g/cm
3
. A value &rgr;
1
/&rgr;
2
may be 0.6 to 1.4, in which &rgr;
1
denotes the density (g/cm
3
) of the spacer and &rgr;
2
denotes the density (g/cm
3
) of the resin forming the resin layer. An outer layer may be provided on the resin layer. The outer layer may be made of glass or ceramics.
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patent: 5715022 (1998-02-01), Takamatsu et al.
patent: 6129866 (2000-10-01), Hmanaka et al.
patent: 6336406 (2002-04-01), Hamanaka et al.
patent: 2001/0012596 (2001-08-01), Kunimoto et al.
patent: 2002/0012088 (2002-01-01), Ozawa et al.
patent: 2002/0021386 (2002-02-01), Yotsuya et al.
patent: 2002/0027715 (2002-03-01), Shimizu et al.
Shimizu Nobuo
Yamashita Hideto
Yotsuya Shinichi
Epps Georgia
Harness & Dickey & Pierce P.L.C.
Spector David N.
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