Abstract: A light shielding thin film is provided on a light transmitting substrate, and the film is covered by a photoresist. The photoresist is exposed and developed to form a pattern, and the film is etched using the pattern as a mask. The pattern is then exposed through the substrate, using the film as a mask, the pattern then being developed to form a pattern of reduced size. The film is then etched using the reduced size pattern as a mask.

Abstract: A characteristic curve indicative of a correlation between the ratio of rotational periods of tape supply and takeup reels and a remaining time or elapsed time for a running tape is approximated by straight lines, and clock pulses having frequencies corresponding to the slopes of the straight lines are counted by counters to measure the remaining or elapsed time. With this arrangement, the remaining time or elapsed time for the tape can be measured simply by counting clock pulses with a series of counters, without resorting to a complex arithmetic circuit.