Retardation compensation element and method for manufacturing the same

A retardation compensation element for generating negative retardation in incident ray in accordance with an incident angle of the incident ray, the retardation compensation element comprising:

• a transparent substrate;
• a retardation compensation layer including
• a first unit layer having a multilayer structure in which at least two types of thin layers that have difference refractive indices from each other are alternately stacked on one of surfaces of the transparent substrate, and
• a second unit layer having a multilayer structure in which the at least two types of thin layers are stacked on the other surface of the first unit layer, and
• a retardation distribution characteristic of the first unit layer for azimuth angles of the incident ray is substantially perpendicular to a retardation distribution characteristic of the second unit layer for the azimuth angles of the incident ray.

A method of manufacturing a retardation compensation element that generates negative retardation in incident ray passing through a retardation compensation layer of the retardation compensation element in accordance with an incident angle of the incident ray, the method comprising:

• providing a substrate and at least two types of thin-film materials in a vacuum chamber;
• and
• depositing particles on the substrate by releasing the particles in order from the thin-film materials, to form the retardation compensation layer having a multilayer structure in which at least two types of thin layers having different refractive indices from each other are stacked on the substrate, wherein
• the depositing of the thin-film materials includes
• forming a first unit layer by stacking the at least two types of thin layers up to an intermediate portion of the retardation compensation layer,
• thereafter, rotating the substrate 90 degrees about a normal line of the substrate, and
• then, forming a second unit layer that works with the first unit layer to constitute the retardation compensation layer, by stacking the at least two types of thin layers.

A method of manufacturing a retardation compensation element that generates negative retardation in incident ray passing through a retardation compensation layer of the retardation compensation element in accordance with an incident angle of the incident ray, the method comprising:

• providing a substrate and at least two types of thin-film materials in a vacuum chamber;
• and
• depositing particles on the substrate by releasing the particles from the respective thin-film materials separately, to form the retardation compensation layer having a multilayer structure in which at least two types of thin layers having different refractive indices from each other are stacked on the substrate, wherein
• the depositing of the thin-film materials includes
• forming a first unit layer on one of surfaces of the substrate by stacking the at least two types of thin layers up to an intermediate portion of the retardation compensation layer,
• thereafter, rotating the substrate 90 degrees about a normal line of the substrate and inverting the substrate, and
• forming a second unit layer that works with the first unit layer to constitute the retardation compensation layer, by stacking the at least two types of thin layers.