Abstract: Described are chiral liquid crystalline polymer materials and polymerizable compounds used for preparing them. The polymer materials can serve as a carrier material or are coated onto a carrier material. Also described are methods of making such material and using them to make pigment flakes used in paints, printing inks, spray paints, cosmetic products, colored plastics, optical elements and security applications.

Abstract: The version management circuit comprises a plurality of mask revision state output circuits and an EXOR circuit. Each mask revision state output circuit selectively outputs a low or high logical level by changing only one mask. The EXOR circuit conducts an EXOR arithmetic operation to a level output from the mask revision state output circuits and outputs the result as a register value. Thus, the version management circuit can be changed and the version code can be rewritten by revising only one mask even if the mask is other than a mask related to a circuit required to be changed.

Abstract: An optical recording film in the form of a monomolecular layer, includes chemisorptive molecules that are chemically bonded by covalent bonding to a surface of a substrate. The optical recording film has the property that, when irradiated with polarized light, a long axis orientation of the chemisorptive molecules is changed to a direction in which the polarized light is irradiated. A reflective film may be formed on the substrate surface. For the chemisorptive molecules it is possible to use CH3—COO—C6H4—(CH2)6—SiCl3, for example. The molecules undergo a dehydrochlorination with active hydrogen in the base material surface, and are chemically bonded to the base material surface by covalent bonding. Thus, an erasable or a write-once optical recording medium of high density can be provided by chemisorption without necessitating vacuum vapor deposition to form the recording layer.

Abstract: A number of new laser patterns are defined by laser scribing the material. This produces new laser patterns which have not previously been known.

Abstract: The invention relates to a method for producing thermotropic casting resin systems that comprise at least one matrix polymer including at least one thermotropic monomer compound which cannot be mixed with the matrix polymer, whereby the matrix polymer an the thermotropic monomer compound are selected in such a way that their refraction indices are almost the same in a temperatrue range that is below the temperature required for structural change and that reaches the temperature of structural change of the thermotropic monomer compound, the casting resin system being translucent or transparent in this termperature range. After dissolving the monomer thermotropic compund in a matrix solution containing a photohardening oligomer, reactive diluents and photoinitiators and a liquid, photohardenable system is obtained, photoradiation with exclusion of oxygen is carried out for hardening.

Abstract: A thermal mass transfer donor element is provided that includes a thermal transfer layer and a light-to-heat conversion layer, wherein the light-to-heat conversion layer has at least two regions exhibiting different absorption coefficients. The thermal transfer donor elements provided can improve imaging performance by increasing transfer sensitivity and decreasing imaging defects.

Abstract: This invention provides a liquid crystal display which comprises a first region including a display region, and a second region being outside the first region, wherein the first and second regions both contain liquid crystal in a polymer network, and a part of the polymer network of the second region is different in structure from the polymer network of the first region, and the part is present in the second region asymmetrically with respect to the first region, and a production method for a liquid crystal display, which comprises providing a liquid crystal material and a prepolymer material in a space between a pair of substrates at least one of which is transparent, and polymerizing the prepolymer material by scanning a first region including a display region and a second region outside the first region with a light beam which causes polymerization.

Abstract: In various embodiments, chromophores are described that include novel electron acceptors, novel electron donors, and/or novel conjugated bridges that are useful in nonlinear optical applications. In some embodiments, the present invention provides chromophore architectures wherein a chromophore contains more than one electron acceptor in electronic communication with a single electron donor, and/or more than one electron donor in electronic communication with a single electron acceptor. Also described is processes for providing materials comprising the novel chromophores and polymer matrices containing the novel chromophores. Electro-optic devices described herein contain one or more of the described electron acceptors, electron donors, conjugated bridges, or chromophores.

Abstract: The invention is for a process for manufacturing a liquid crystal display element for use in a color display using resist materials. The process comprises forming a transparent conductive film on one side of a transparent substrate; patterning the transparent conductive film by coating with a colored positive resist followed by exposure and development, coating a black-colored negative resist onto the transparent film; forming black stripes by subjecting the negative resist to exposure from the back side of the transparent substrate and development of the negative resist.

Abstract: There is provided an electrophoretic device which comprises an electrophoretic layer containing dispersion medium and electrophoretic particles dispersed in the dispersion medium, controls the position of the electrophoretic particles according to the electric potential applied to electrodes, and can maintain the electrophoretic particles at a desired position for a long time by using the dispersion medium formed of mixture consisting of a plurality of substances having small mutual solubility.

Abstract: Shape-persistent organic materials, including polymers, with large degrees of interior free volume are described, along with behaviors and phenomena enabled by their unique properties. One class of such a material is built up from triptycene base moieties wherein three benzene rings are bridged together about a [2.2.2] tricyclic ring system. These units can be assembled into discreet molecules and polymers. These materials and/or formulations thereof with liquid crystals or polymers are useful for the complexation of chemicals and/or polymers; they have very low dielectric constants for use as coatings in dielectric circuits, they provide additional ordering mechanisms in liquid crystals, and they display unusual mechanical responses when subjected to electrochemical, chemical, or mechanical stimuli.

Abstract: Cholesteric liquid crystal compositions and a recording medium which includes cholesteric liquid crystal composition are disclosed. The cholesteric liquid crystal composition has a characteristic, in a cholesteric phase, of reflecting visible light in accordance with temperature. By rapidly cooling the display from a cholesteric phase, the material can be solidified in a reflection state. The cholesteric material also has the characteristic during a transition from a solid phase to a cholesteric phase of having of an enthalpy &Dgr;Hch at a substantially constant value during a time when a temperature thereof increases during one of differential thermal analysis and differential scanning calorimetry.

Abstract: Process for determining a mask for changing a brightness profile of a photographic copy with the following steps: photographic image data are derived from photographically recorded image information; optimized image data are obtained by correction of the photographic image data, wherein errors which were created to during the photographic recording of the image information are considered; a brightness mask, the values of which embody an influencing of the brightness profile of the photographic copy is determined based on the optimized image data.

Abstract: This invention relates to a photothermographic element comprising a support, at least one photothermographic imaging layer, and at least one antihalation layer or a filter layer, wherein the antihalation or filer layer comprises an aqueous heat-bleachable composition comprising a 1-aminopyridinium filter dye having a methine linkage terminated by a substituted or unsubstituted heterocyclic nucleus of the type contained in cyanine dyes, which filter dye is in the presence of an effective amount of a thermal solvent.

Abstract: A liquid crystal display device includes a transparent substrate provided with a plurality of stripe scanning electrodes, and another substrate provided with a plurality of stripe signal electrodes orthogonal to the scanning electrodes, and a liquid crystal layer enclosed between the two transparent substrates. The scanning electrodes are provided on the transparent substrate via a color filter, under overcoat film, and a hard coat film made of hard silicon resin. In the hard coat film, in order to reduce electrode resistance of the scanning electrodes, there are provided a plurality of metal electrodes which are electrically connected individually to the scanning electrodes. The metal electrodes are also connected to the signal electrodes in the same manner as the scanning electrodes.

Abstract: A compound or a polymer thereof promises an advantageous use for an ink-jet ink or a polymer dispersion liquid crystal display.

Abstract: The invention relates to a process as described in claim of preparing a reflective film comprising a layer of a polymerized mesogenic material with helically twisted structure, wherein the helix axis is perpendicular to the film plane, and containing regions with varying helical pitch, to a reflective film obtainable by such a process, to the use of such a reflective film as reflective broadband or notch polarizer or as a multicoloured film or image in liquid crystal displays, as colour filter, in effect pigments, for decorative or security applications, and to a liquid crystal display comprising a liquid crystal cell and a reflective polarizer as described in the foregoing and the following, and optionally further comprising one or more compensaters or polarizers.

Abstract: This invention comprises an inspection method conducted by rotary-coating a photoresist on the surface of a semiconductor substrate, irradiating ultraviolet rays using an exposure instrument such as a stepper, exposing the entire photoresist, removing the exposed photoresist using an alkali developing solution, and irradiating a laser beam onto the semiconductor substrate to detect foreign substances through the scattered light. Accordingly, gel foreign substances remain on the semiconductor substrate even after the steps of exposure and development, so that their presence can be detected surely. Furthermore, this invention provides a method and an apparatus of surely detecting gel foreign substances which are present in a photoresist film or between patterns by exposing the photoresist and performing etching and ashing, using gel foreign substances which remained through the development as a mask.

Abstract: A composition of a positive photosensitive resin precursor includes (a) a polyamic acid ester and/or a polyamic acid each having at least one selected from a carboxyl group, a phenolic hydroxyl group, a sulfonic acid group and a thiol group at the end of a principal chain of the polymer, (b) a compound having a phenolic hydroxyl group, and (c) a quinonediazide sulfnate. The composition can be subjected to dissolution in an alkaline developer.

Abstract: A method for transferring a transparent conductive film onto one surface of a sheet base material made of a plastic material, wherein the transparent conductive film as an object to be transferred is preliminarily formed on a substrate side which is superior in heat resistance to the plastic material, the transparent conductive film being sandwiched between a peelable layer which can be peeled off at the time of transfer and a protective film for protecting the transparent conductive film on the substrate side which is superior in heat resistance to the plastic material.

Abstract: A rewritable thermosensible recording material shown by the following chemical formula. This recording material can be produced by condensing a derivative of dicarboxylic acid and cholesterol or by making halide dicarboxylic acid and cholesterol react to each other. By locating this material purely or as a mixture between a base layer and a transparent protective layer, a rewritable thermosensible recording medium can be obtained.

Abstract: The phase sheet includes a first region and a second region which have respectively different slow axis directions or fast axis directions. A polymer constituting the sheet contains a photoisomeric molecule.

Abstract: A photomask of the present invention is a photomask for use in production of a display device, the photomask having on its surface a plurality of drawn areas and a transitional portion between two adjacent ones of the drawn areas. A pattern is formed on at least one of the drawn areas. A ratio between a pattern pitch and a transitional portion pitch is an integral ratio such that a length defined by a least common multiple of the pattern pitch and the transitional portion pitch is 1 mm or less.

Abstract: A cholesteric liquid crystal color filter plate which includes a substrate, a first light filter region on the substrate wherein the first light filter region is formed of a cholesteric liquid crystal mixture which is permeable to a red wavelength zone by reflecting blue and green wavelength zones, a second light filter region on the substrate wherein the second light filter region formed of a cholesteric liquid crystal mixture is permeable to the blue wavelength zone by reflecting the green and red wavelength zones, and a third light filter region on the substrate wherein the third light filter region formed of a cholesteric liquid crystal-dye mixture is permeable to the green wavelength zone. The cholesteric liquid crystal-dye mixture is manufactured by mixing a cholesteric liquid crystal reflecting one of the red wavelength zone or the blue wavelength zone, with a dye absorbing the remaining wavelength zone which is not selected by the cholesteric liquid crystal.

Abstract: This invention is a dispersion comprising a solvent having dispersed therein a liquid-crystal forming dye of structural Formula I: [D—(X)m]—(Y)n  I wherein: D is a merocyanine dye; each Y contains an ionic or a nonionic solubilizing substituent or a group with a pKa value of less than 4 in water; each X is a nonionic substituent; n is 1 to 10; m is 0-10; and the resulting dye forms a liquid-crystalline phase in solvent. The dispersion is particularly useful in imaging and photographic elements.

Abstract: An evaluation mask for evaluating a projection-type exposure apparatus, the mask including at least one diffraction grating pattern for producing a diffracted light of the positive first-order and a diffracted light of negative first-order, diffraction efficiencies of the diffracted lights being different respectively, one of the diffracted lights having a magnitude that is zero, and an image of the at least one diffraction grating pattern being projected onto a test substrate by the projection-type exposure apparatus, and a reference pattern for obtaining a reference image to measure a displacement of the image of the diffraction grating pattern, and an image of the reference pattern being projected onto the test substrate or the image detector by the projection-type exposure apparatus, wherein the images of the diffraction grating pattern and the reference pattern projected onto the test substrate or the image detector are used for evaluating the projection-type exposure apparatus.

Abstract: Liquid crystal pigments comprising at least one layer of liquid crystalline polymer material with a helically twisted molecular structure wherein the helical axis is oriented substantially perpendicular to the plane of the layer and which show reflection of circularly polarized light, some prepared in which the bandwidth of the reflected wavelength band is at least 100 nm. These pigments are suitable for use in reflective films or coatings for decorative applications, cosmetic compositions, and pharmaceutical compositions, optical elements, and security applications.

Abstract: This invention comprises dispersion comprising a solvent having dispersed therein a liquid-crystal forming dye of structural Formula I:

Abstract: The invention relates to novel crosslinkable, photoactive polymers from the class of polyimides, polyamide acids and esters thereof, and to their use as orientation layers for liquid crystals and in the construction of unstructured and structured optical elements and multi-layer systems. The polymers contain as side-chains photo-crosslinkable groups of the following formula: The broken line indicates the point of linkage to the polymer main chain. In addition, A, B each independently of the other represents unsubstituted or optionally fluoro-, chloro-, cyano-, alkyl-, alkoxy-, fluoroalkyl- or fluoroalkoxy-substituted phenylene, pyridine-2,5-diyl, pyrimidine-2,5-diyl, cyclohexane-1,4-diyl, piperidine-1,4-diyl, piperazine-1,4-diyl; C represents unsubstituted or optionally fluoro-, chloro-, cyano-, alkyl-, alkoxy-, fluoroalkyl- or fluoroalkoxy-substituted phenylene, or pyrimidine-2,5-diyl, pyridine-2,5-diyl, 2,5-thiophenylene, 2,5-furanylene, 1,4- or 2,6-naphthylene.

Abstract: A method of fabricating a color filter that is adaptive for reducing an exposure process of the color filter. In the method, a material layer for forming the color filter in which a color changes in accordance with an exposed light quantity is formed on a transparent substrate. Three primary color filters are formed by differentiating the amount of exposed light on the material layer.

Abstract: The invention relates to a process as described in claim of preparing a reflective film comprising a layer of a polymerized mesogenic material with helically twisted structure, wherein the helix axis is perpendicular to the film plane, and containing regions with varying helical pitch, to a reflective film obtainable by such a process, to the use of such a reflective film as reflective broadband or notch polarizer or as a multicolored film or image in liquid crystal displays, as color filter, in effect pigments, for decorative or security applications, and to a liquid crystal display comprising a liquid crystal cell and a reflective polarizer as described in the foregoing and the following, and optionally further comprising one or more compensaters or polarizers.

Abstract: The invention provides an apparatus and a method for defining a pattern on a substrate using a shadow masking technique. Said apparatus comprises a flexible member having a movable portion and at least one aperture. The flexible member is positioned in operation above the substrate thereby acting as a shadow mask. The apparatus further comprises a support for the substrate, distance-controlling means for controlling the distance between said movable portion and said substrate, and an actuator for moving the flexible member and substrate relative to each other parallel to a surface of the substrate. The apparatus further comprises an emission source which emits materials, electrons or light and which aims through the shadow mask at the substrate where the pattern is defined. Such a pattern might be employed in micromechanic, microoptic or microelectronic devices, for example. The described apparatus may be implemented using the AFM principal.

Abstract: A pixel cell array of a light valve does not rely upon photolithography to define inter-pixel spacing. Instead, adjacent pixels of the array are electronically insulated from one another by spacers formed by etching a dielectric layer conforming to sidewalls of a patterned first metal layer. Formation of a second metal layer over the dielectric spacer structures, followed by chemical-mechanical polishing of the second metal layer to reveal the tops of the sidewall spacers, completes fabrication of the array. The thickness of the spacer sidewalls, and hence inter-pixel spacing, is determined by the rate of formation of the conforming dielectric layer. This rate can be precisely controlled to produce spacer structures having a thickness less than the minimum linewidth of a given photolithography system. In this manner, pixel arrays having greatly reduced inter-pixel spacing and correspondingly higher cell densities can be created.

Abstract: Provided is an optical element comprising a biopolymer having an oriented structure and a photoresponsive compound, such as a photochromic compound, wherein at least a portion of the photoresponsive compound is incorporated within the oriented structure of the biopolymer and wherein the oriented structure is laminar with the planes of the laminar orientation being aligned perpendicular to a surface of the optical element. Preferably, the biopolymer is a liquid crystal polypeptide, such as ferroelectric liquid crystal poly(&ggr;-methyl-L-glutamate), and the photochromic compound is bacteriorhodopsin. Such optical elements may be utilized in a holographic grating, in an optical correlator system such as for pattern recognition, in a dynamic holographic recording system, and in an optical switch.

Abstract: A thermal transfer donor element is provided which comprises a support, a light-to-heat conversion layer, an interlayer, and a thermal transfer layer. When the above donor element is brought into contact with a receptor and imagewise irradiated, an image is obtained which is free from contamination by the light-to-heat conversion layer. The construction and process of this invention is useful in making colored images including applications such as color proofs and color filter elements.

Abstract: A display for presenting selected images to a viewer is disclosed, including a transparent substrate, a transparent, electrically conductive coating formed over the transparent substrate, a light modulating layer formed over the transparent, electrically conductive layer and a photosensitive layer formed over the light modulating layer which is adapted to be exposed and developed to provide viewable and conductive images.

Abstract: The present invention is proposed to solve the problem of conspicuous increases in the drawing time of a circuit pattern when oblique lines are present which leads to high costs and low accuracy for resulting photomasks. For this reason, a shading pattern 3b formed on the principal plane of a transparent base 2 based on layout data of a circuit pattern of a polygon containing a oblique line is converted to polygon data in which a oblique line is expressed in a stepwise form by a number Np of rectangles which are defined by Np=int (W/Rp/m), where W is a width which is the width of the oblique lines, Rp is a resolution of a projection exposure apparatus and m is a magnification of a projection exposure apparatus. The shading pattern 3b is formed on the principal plane of the transparent substrate 2 based on layout data of a circuit pattern of a polygon containing a oblique line.

Abstract: There is provided a ferroelectric charge-transport liquid crystal material comprising a liquid crystal compound, the liquid crystal material having a carrier mobility of not less than 10−5 cm2/Vs. There are further provided an image display device, an electroluminescence device, a photoconductor, a space light modulating device, a thin-film transistor, a photosensor, and a photorefractive device each comprising the ferroelectric charge-transport liquid crystal material.

Abstract: This invention comprises dispersion comprising a solvent having dispersed therein a liquid-crystal forming dye of structural Formula I: [D-(X)m]-(Y)n wherein: D is a light-absorbing chromophore other than a cyanine dye or a barbituric acid oxonol dye; each Y contains an ionic or a nonionic solubilizing substituent or a group with a pKa value of less than 4 in water; each X is a nonionic substituent; n is 0 to 10; m is 0-10; and the resulting dye forms a liquid-crystalline phase in solvent. The dispersion is particularly useful in imaging and photographic elements.

Abstract: A novel optical film capable of readily vitrifying the tendency and state of liquid crystal alignment, excellent in the ability to retain the alignment state, and suitable for the application to optical elements. The film is produced from a liquid-crystal material containing as the essential ingredient a liquid-crystal polyester having structural units (A) and (B) as the essential unit, exhibiting a vitrified state at a temperature lower than the liquid-crystal transition point, and having a logarithmic viscosity number (&eegr;) of 0.04-0.4 dl/g as measured at 30° C. in a phenol/tetrachloroethane solvent (60/40 by weight), wherein each X represents independently O or C═O; each Y represents independently a group selected from among F, Cl, Br and 1-4C alkyls; and n is 0 or 1.

Abstract: An optical element includes a liquid crystal layer; and at least one alignment layer in contact with the liquid crystal layer, the at least one alignment layer being formed from a mixture including a first reactive mesogen and a second reactive mesogen. Each of the first and second reactive mesogens have at least one polymerizable functional group, and a number of polymerizable functional groups of the second reactive mesogen is smaller than that of the first reactive mesogen. A ratio of the second reactive mesogen to the first reactive mesogen in the mixture is determined so as to provide a predetermined pretilt angle with liquid crystal molecules in the liquid crystal layer.

Abstract: A rewritable, heat sensitive, color image recording medium having a pair of opposed substrate sheets at least one of which is transparent, and a heat sensitive layer interposed between the substrate sheets and containing a cholesteric liquid crystal compound having a molecular weight of not greater than 2,000 and a glass transition point of at least 35° C. A color image is formed on the recording medium by varying imagewise the temperature of the heat sensitive layer from a first temperature to a second temperature such that the cholesteric liquid crystal compound assumes a cholesteric liquid crystal phase at at least one of the first and second temperatures. The image is fixed by rapidly cooling the recording medium to a temperature lower than the glass transition point of the cholesteric liquid crystal compound.

Abstract: A photoresist is applied to a first substrate made of glass or resin which has been subjected to alignment treatment. Next, the photoresist is exposed and developed by UV light so as to form a non-optical rotatory region in a stripe manner after a mask having a desired pattern is provided on the photoresist. Then, polymerized liquid crystal is applied or dropped on the substrate complex thus prepared so far after an alignment layer on the substrate is rubbed. Further, a second substrate whose surface has been subjected to alignment treatment is placed on the substrate complex such that the directions of the alignment of the two substrates are orthogonal to each other, and the substrate thus positioned is pressed against the substrate complex. Finally, the substrate complex is irradiated by the UV light to cure the polymerized liquid crystal so as to form an optical rotatory region, thereby completing an optical rotatory device.

Abstract: A cholesteryl compound has formula (1), and a rewritable full-color thermosensitive recording material contains the above-mentioned cholesteryl compound of formula (1): YO—CO(CH2)n—A—(CH2)nCO—OY  (1) wherein A is a 1,5-hexadienylene group represented by the formula —C(R)═CHCH2CH2CH═C(R)-, in which R is a hydrogen atom or methyl group; Y is a cholesterol residue obtained by removing a hydroxyl group from cholesterol; and n is an integer of 5 to 7.

Abstract: This invention is a dispersion comprising a solvent having dispersed therein a liquid-crystal forming dye of structural Formula I: [D—(X)m]—(Y)n  I wherein: D is a merocyanine dye; each Y contains an ionic or a nonionic solubilizing substituent or a group with a pKa value of less than 4 in water; each X is a nonionic substituent; n is 1 to 10; m is 0-10; and the resulting dye forms a liquid-crystalline phase in solvent. The dispersion is particularly useful in imaging and photographic elements.

Abstract: A lithographically patterned three dimensional stencil type mask is formed on a substrate over a specific area that is to undergo processing. The three dimensional mask functionally provides an energy beam stencil at a precise height over the specific area. The stencil has surface properties that provide a resist function for any scattering of a focused particle beam that passes through an aperture or opening in the center of the stencil, and is formed using standard in the art additive and subtractive processes so that it can be removed after the particle beam processing. It has a particular advantage in an application where it is desired to have sub regions in a pixel area in a liquid crystal display that can provide different domains which operate to provide different pretilt states to the liquid crystal which in turn widens the viewing range of the display.

Abstract: According to an exposing apparatus and an exposing method of the present invention, a photomask is provided with linear patterns having their linear portions to be transferred onto a plate reduced in length. By moving and stopping photomask in one direction of plate and directing light to photomask, the linear patterns are transferred onto plate. Thus, the exposing apparatus and method are provided capable of efficiently transferring the linear patterns onto the plate by exposure using a small photomask.

Abstract: Methods of forming mask patterns and methods of forming field emitter tip masks are described. In one embodiment a first surface is provided over which a mask pattern is to be formed. A mixture comprising mask particles is applied to a second surface comprising material joined with the first layer. The mixture, as applied, leaves an undesirable distribution of mask particles over the first surface. After application of the mixture to the second surface, the mask particles are laterally distributed over the first surface, into a desirable distribution by placing a particle-dispersing structure directly into the mixture on the second surface and moving the particle-dispersing structure laterally through the mixture on the second surface. In another embodiment, a mixture is formed on the substrate's second surface and includes a liquid component and a plurality of solid mask-forming components.

Abstract: A radiation curable composition comprising,(A) at least one compound containing a (meth)acrylate group represented by the following formula (1), ##STR1## wherein R.sup.1 is a hydrogen atom or a methyl group, R.sup.2 is an alkylene group or a hydroxyalkylene group having 2 to 6 carbon atoms, R.sup.3 is a divalent organic group, n is a number of 1 to 10, m is an integer of 0 or 1, and Ar.sup.1 and Ar.sup.2 are independently a group comprising an aromatic ring(B) at least one compound derived from trishydroxyethyl isocyanurate, and containing at least one (meth)acrylate group, and(C) at least one radiation polymerization initiator.The radiation curable resin composition affords a high productivity, exhibits high transparency, and produces molded articles exhibiting minimal coloration upon exposure to light, superior dimensional precision, high heat resistance, only slight adhesion to substrates under high temperature conditions. The composition is very useful for manufacturing molding articles.

Abstract: An optical information storage material which can reversibly store said information comprising a polymeric material with a dependence of optical activity on temperature characterized in that the optical activity is substantially invariant at temperatures below Tg of said polymer, and variant at a temperatures at or near or above the Tg.