Abstract: An alignment film forming apparatus and a method are provided to form an alignment film for a liquid crystal in a single process of simultaneously executing a film deposition process of ion beam sputtering and an alignment process. The method greatly restricts the size of a substrate. An alignment film forming apparatus includes a target disposed on a top surface side of a substrate and having a sputtering surface defining a sharp angle to the top surface of the substrate, a transfer table that transfers the substrate in a predetermined direction, and an ion source disposed on the top surface side of the substrate in such a way that an ion beam is irradiated on the sputtering surface of the target. An ion beam reflected at the sputtering surface is irradiated on a sputtering film formed on the substrate.

Abstract: An apparatus and method for forming an alignment layer with uniform orientation is provided. An alignment layer-forming apparatus includes an ion source for generating ion beams and one or more masks disposed between the ion source and a substrate. The masks each have a reflective face directed to the substrate. The ion beams are reflected between the reflective face of each mask and a thin-film which is disposed on the substrate and which is processed into an alignment layer, whereby the alignment layer is formed with the ion beam finally applied to the thin-film. The orientation of a liquid crystal can be rendered uniform by varying the shape and/or arrangement of the reflective face of the mask. Hence, a liquid crystal display with no brightness or color non-uniformity can be manufactured.