Abstract: An imprint apparatus of the present invention molds an uncured resin on a substrate using a mold and cures the resin to thereby form a pattern of the cured resin on the substrate. The imprint apparatus includes a gas supply mechanism configured to supply gas from the mold side toward the substrate and to recover the supplied gas at the mold side, when the mold is pressed against the uncured resin; a substrate holding unit configured to be movable while holding the substrate and have a flat plate portion that has a surface height which is adjusted to the level of the surface of the held substrate and is disposed on the outside of the substrate so as to surround the substrate; and a gas recovery mechanism configured to recover the gas entrapped in a gap region which is present between the outer circumferential side of the substrate held by the substrate holding unit and the inner circumferential side of the flat plate portion toward the substrate.

Abstract: An object is to provide an imprint method or an imprint apparatus that not only reduces the time for filling with resin or reduces pattern defects, but also reduces the surface roughness of resin. An imprint method brings a resin on a substrate and a mold having a pattern into contact with each other to transfer the pattern onto the substrate. The imprint method includes a step of bringing the resin on the substrate and the mold into contact with each other while a space between the substrate and the mold is filled with a predetermined gas, a step of curing the resin while the resin and the mold are in contact with each other, and a step of separating the resin and the mold. The predetermined gas contains a first gas having a solubility of 0.36 mol/liter or more in the resin and a second gas having a solubility of less than 0.36 mol/liter in the resin, at 20° C. and a pressure of 1 atmosphere.

Abstract: An imprint apparatus of the present invention molds an uncured resin on a substrate using a mold and cures the resin to thereby form a pattern of the cured resin on the substrate. The imprint apparatus includes a gas supply mechanism configured to supply gas from the mold side toward the substrate and to recover the supplied gas at the mold side, when the mold is pressed against the uncured resin; a substrate holding unit configured to be movable while holding the substrate and have a flat plate portion that has a surface height which is adjusted to the level of the surface of the held substrate and is disposed on the outside of the substrate so as to surround the substrate; and a gas recovery mechanism configured to recover the gas entrapped in a gap region which is present between the outer circumferential side of the substrate held by the substrate holding unit and the inner circumferential side of the flat plate portion toward the substrate.

Abstract: An exposure apparatus includes a projection optical system that projects light from an original to a substrate, and a supply device that supplies liquid containing a hydrocarbon compound to a gap between the final surface of the projection optical system and the substrate. The exposure apparatus exposes the substrate to light via the liquid filling the gap. The exposure apparatus further includes an adding device that adds water to the liquid to be supplied by the supply device.

Abstract: An exposure apparatus exposes a substrate to exposure light via an organic liquid. The exposure apparatus includes an oxidation reaction device and a filter. The oxidation reaction device generates oxide by causing reaction between the organic liquid and at least one of oxygen and water in the organic liquid through the application of illumination light onto the organic liquid. The filter removes the oxide generated by the oxidation reaction device from the organic liquid. The organic liquid is supplied onto the substrate via the oxidation reaction device and the filter.

Abstract: An exposure apparatus includes a projection optical system for projecting a pattern of a reticle onto an object to be exposed, via a liquid that is filled in a space between a final optical element in the projection optical system and the object, and a liquid-holding member provided around the object and having a surface that is as high as a surface of the object, the liquid-holding member provided for retaining the liquid, wherein the surface of the liquid-holding member is processed so that a first contact angle between the liquid and the surface of the object is equal to or smaller than a second contact angle between the liquid and the surface of the liquid-holding member.

Abstract: A liquid crystal device, comprising: a pair of substrates each provided with an electrode including one substrate having thereon a color filter and a coating layer, and a liquid crystal layer comprising a chiral smectic liquid crystal disposed together with spacer beads between the pair of substrates, wherein the liquid crystal layer has a thickness smaller than a diameter of the spacer beads and a maximum thickness of the coating layer, the coating layer having a pencil hardness of at most 7 H. The above layer structure between the substrates is effective in improving resistance to external shock and providing a uniform cell gap.

Abstract: A liquid crystal device, comprising: a pair of substrates each provided with an electrode including one substrate having thereon a color filter and a coating layer, and a liquid crystal layer comprising a chiral smectic liquid crystal disposed together with spacer beads between the pair of substrates, wherein the liquid crystal layer has a thickness smaller than a diameter of the spacer beads and a maximum thickness of the coating layer, the coating layer having a pencil hardness of at most 7H. The above layer structure between the substrates is effective in improving resistance to external shock and providing a uniform cell gap.

Abstract: A matrix-type liquid crystal device is formed so as to have a matrix of pixels defined by and isolated from each other by an outside-pixel region. The liquid crystal in the outside-pixel region in placed in an alignment state, typically a homeotropic state or one close thereto, which is different from an alignment state, typically a homogeneous uniform alignment state, at the pixel region. As a result, the liquid crystal device is provided with improved display qualities due to suppression of irregularities at the outside-pixel region and/or a local pressure distribution.

Abstract: A liquid crystal device, comprising: a pair of substrates each provided with an electrode including one substrate having thereon a color filter and a coating layer, and a liquid crystal layer comprising a chiral smectic liquid crystal disposed together with spacer beads between the pair of substrates, wherein the liquid crystal layer has a thickness smaller than a diameter of the spacer beads and a maximum thickness of the coating layer, the coating layer having a pencil hardness of at most 7 H. The above layer structure between the substrates is effective in improving resistance to external shock and providing a uniform cell gap.

Abstract: A liquid crystal device is constituted by a pair of oppositely disposed substrates each provided with a plurality of electrodes and a chiral smectic liquid crystal disposed so as to fill a prescribed gap between the substrates together with a plurality of spacers dispersed therein. The substrates includes a substrate having four sides at least one of which has a connecting portion to be connected with a drive circuit supplying a voltage to associated electrodes. The prescribed gap is decreased with an increasing distance from the connecting portion, whereby an uneven temperature distribution within the device resulting from heat generation in the vicinity of the connecting portion for the drive circuit can be alleviated or minimized to improve a display irregularity.

Abstract: A liquid crystal device is constituted by a pair of oppositely disposed substrates having opposing inner surfaces and opposing electrodes thereon, and a chiral smectic liquid crystal assuming two stable states disposed between the opposing electrodes. The opposing inner surfaces of the pair of substrates have been subjected to an aligning treatment such that the liquid crystal placed in one of the two stable states moves under application of an electric field in a direction identical to one in which the liquid crystal placed in the other of the two stable states moves under the application of the electric field. The liquid crystal device has an effective optical modulation region and a peripheral region outside the effective optical modulation region, wherein the effective optical modulation region and the photosensitive member have been subjected to different aligning treatments.

Abstract: A liquid crystal device is constituted by a pair of oppositely disposed substrates having opposing inner surfaces and opposing electrodes thereon, and a chiral smectic liquid crystal disposed between the opposing electrodes. The liquid crystal device has an effective optical modulation region and a peripheral region outside the effective optical modulation region. In the device, liquid crystal molecules in the peripheral region have a pretilt angle which is larger than a pretilt angle of liquid crystal molecules in the effective optical modulation region. As a result, a local pressure irregularity or a cell thickness change caused by a liquid crystal molecular movement along an extension of the device is effectively suppressed.

Abstract: A liquid crystal device is constituted by a pair of oppositely disposed substrates having opposing inner surfaces and opposing electrodes thereon, and a chiral smectic liquid crystal assuming two stable states disposed between the opposing electrodes. The opposing inner surfaces of the pair of substrates have been subjected to an aligning treatment such that the liquid crystal placed in one of the two stable states moves under application of an electric field in a direction identical to one in which the liquid crystal placed in the other of the two stable states moves under the application of the electric field. The liquid crystal device has an effective optical modulation region and a peripheral region outside the effective optical modulation region, wherein the effective optical modulation region and the photosensitive member have been subjected to different aligning treatments.

Abstract: A ferroelectric liquid crystal device is constituted by disposing a ferroelectric liquid crystal between a pair of substrates having thereon electrodes for voltage application and provided with uniaxial alignment axes, as by rubbing, so as to provide a high pretilt angle of at least 10 degrees. A problematic liquid crystal movement in such a high-pretilt angle ferroelectric liquid crystal device is suppressed by improving a smectic layer structure therein, inclusive of a symmetry of pretilt angles at the pair of substrate boundary surfaces. Such an improved smectic layer structure is accomplished by a realigning treatment after cooling to the chiral smectic phase or in the final stage of the cooling to the chiral smectic phase as by application of an AC electric field and/or by repetitive heating-cooling in the chiral smectic phase. The improved smectic layer structure is represented by, e.g., an X-ray diffraction peak having an increased peak area and/or a decreased half-value width.

Abstract: A liquid crystal device is constituted by a pair of oppositely disposed substrates having opposing inner surfaces and opposing electrodes thereon, and a chiral smectic liquid crystal disposed between the opposing electrodes. The liquid crystal device has an effective optical modulation region and a peripheral region outside the effective optical modulation region. In the device, liquid crystal molecules in the peripheral region have a pretilt angle which is larger than a pretilt angle of liquid crystal molecules in the effective optical modulation region. As a result, a local pressure irregularity or a cell thickness change caused by a liquid crystal molecular movement along an extension of the device is effectively suppressed.

Abstract: A method of aligning liquid crystals includes the steps of aligning chiral smectic liquid crystal sandwiched between a pair of substrates each having an electrode by applying an alternating electric field between the substrates under periodically changing temperature conditions in which a width of changes of the temperature for a single period differs in every period.

Abstract: A ferroelectric liquid crystal device is constituted by disposing a ferroelectric liquid crystal between a pair of substrates having thereon electrodes for voltage application and provided with uniaxial alignment axes, as by rubbing, so as to provide a high pretilt angle of at least 10 degrees. A problematic liquid crystal movement in such a high-pretilt angle ferroelectric liquid crystal device is suppressed by improving a smectic layer structure therein, inclusive of a symmetry of pretilt angles at the pair of substrate boundary surfaces. Such an improved smectic layer structure is accomplished by a realigning treatment after cooling to the chiral smectic phase or in the final stage of the cooling to the chiral smectic phase as by application of an AC electric field and/or by repetitive heating-cooling in the chiral smectic phase. The improved smectic layer structure is represented by, e.g., an X-ray diffraction peak having an increased peak area and/or a decreased half-value width.

Abstract: A liquid crystal device suitable as a display device is produced through a process wherein a chiral smectic liquid crystal is injected into a blank cell in a temperature where two higher temperature phases, such as isotropic phase and cholesteric phase or cholesteric phase and smectic A phase, of the liquid crystal are co-present. As a result, the liquid crystal injection is completed in a relatively short period to provide the liquid crystal device with a uniform alignment characteristic of the liquid crystal.