Patent ID: 8659738

Claim:
A method of manufacturing an oriented film, comprising: a patterning exposure step of exposing a surface of a photo-oriented film through a photo mask to linearly polarized light, the photo-oriented film is formed by being applied on an oriented film, the photo mask comprising a light transmitting film formed with a light-shielding pattern comprising light shielding portions and non-light shielding portions, the light transmitting film transmitting light of a photosensitive wavelength of the photo-oriented film; a second exposure step of exposing portions of the patterned photo-oriented film that were not exposed in the previous patterning exposure step to second linear polarization light having a polarization axis oriented at 90° to a polarization axis of the linear polarization light used in the previous step; a step of overlapping the photo mask on the oriented film before the patterning exposure step; and a step of separating the photo mask from the photo-oriented film after the patterning exposure step; wherein: the light-shielding pattern of the photo mask is formed with light shielding portions and non-light shielding portions alternately and in parallel with an equal width, so that, in the second exposure step, parallel linear exposed portions that correspond to the non-light shielding portions are patterned on the photo-oriented film; the oriented film and the photo mask are both formed in a belt-like shape having the same width, the light shielding pattern comprising stripes arranged in parallel in a widthwise direction continuously in a lengthwise direction of the photo mask; and wherein in the patterning exposure step, the oriented film and the photo mask are overlapped upon one another as they are moved at a constant rate in the same direction so that the photo-oriented film is exposed to light for patterning, and in the separating step, the photo mask is taken up as the oriented film and the photo mask are moved at a constant rate so as to separate the photo mask from the oriented film.