A negative pattern is formed by applying a resist composition onto a substrate, exposing the resist film, and developing the exposed resist film in an organic solvent developer. The process further involves coating the negative pattern with a shrink agent solution of a first polymer comprising recurring units capable of forming carboxyl, hydroxyl or lactone ring and a second polymer comprising recurring units capable of forming amino and fluorinated recurring units in an ester and/or ketone solvent, baking the coating, and removing the excessive shrink agent for thereby shrinking the size of spaces in the pattern.

There is provided a pattern forming method comprising (a) a step of forming a film on a substrate using an electron beam-sensitive or extreme ultraviolet radiation-sensitive resin composition, (b) a step of forming a top coat layer on the film using a top coat composition containing a resin (T) containing at least any one of repeating units represented by formulae (I-1) to (I-5) shown below, (c) a step of exposing the film having the top coat layer using an electron beam or an extreme ultraviolet radiation, and (d) a step of developing the film having the top coat layer after the exposure to form a pattern.

An actinic ray-sensitive or radiation-sensitive resin composition includes a resin (A) containing a repeating unit represented by General Formula (4) and a crosslinking agent (C) containing a polar group, in which the crosslinking agent (C) is a compound represented by General Formula (1) or a compound in which two to five structures represented by General Formula (1) are connected via a linking group or a single bond represented by L.sub.1 in General Formula (3). ##STR00001##

Disclosed is a multilayer optical compensation film comprising a first layer comprising a positive C-plate material and a second layer comprising a polyimide, as well as polymer compositions and resins and solutions containing said polymer compositions. The optical compensation film has a reversed wavelength dispersion that is capable of providing an achromatic (or broadband) retardation compensation. The optical film can be used in optical devices such as liquid crystal displays (LCD) or organic light emitting diode (OLED) displays.

Disclosed is a multilayer optical compensation film comprising a first layer comprising a positive C-plate material and a second layer comprising a polyimide, as well as polymer compositions and resins and solutions containing said polymer compositions. The optical compensation film has a reversed wavelength dispersion that is capable of providing an achromatic (or broadband) retardation compensation. The optical film can be used in optical devices such as liquid crystal displays (LCD) or organic light emitting diode (OLED) displays.

Disclosed is a process for making nitrated styrenic fluoropolymers having various degrees of substitution. The nitrated styrenic fluoropolymer is capable of providing an exceptionally high birefringence ranging from 0.02 to 0.036. Further, the birefringence can be tuned by varying the degree of substitution (DS) of the nitro group on the styrenic ring to meet the need for optical compensation film applications. More particularly, the optical compensation films of the present invention are for use in an in-plane switching LCD (IPS-LCD) and OLED display.

Disclosed is a process for making nitrated styrenic fluoropolymers having various degrees of substitution. The nitrated styrenic fluoropolymer is capable of providing an exceptionally high birefringence ranging from 0.02 to 0.036. Further, the birefringence can be tuned by varying the degree of substitution (DS) of the nitro group on the styrenic ring to meet the need for optical compensation film applications. More particularly, the optical compensation films of the present invention are for use in an in-plane switching LCD (IPS-LCD) and OLED display.

Disclosed are optical compensation films with exceptionally high positive out-of-plane birefringence. The optical compensation films are based on substituted styrenic fluoropolymers and have positive out-of-plane bireftingence greater than 0.02 throughout the wavelength range of 400 nm<<800 nm. The optical compensation films of the invention are suitable for use in optical devices such as liquid crystal display (LCD) devices and organic light emitting diode (OLED) display devices.

Disclosed are a copolymer, porous membranes made from the copolymer, and a method of treating fluids using the porous membranes to remove metal ions, for example, from fluids originating in the microelectronics industry, wherein the copolymer includes polymerized monomeric units I and II, wherein monomeric unit I is of the formula A-XCH.sub.2B, wherein A is Rf(CH.sub.2)n, Rf is a perfluoro alkyl group of the formula CF.sub.3(CF.sub.2).sub.x, wherein x is 3-12, n is 1-6, X is O or S, and B is vinylphenyl, the monomeric unit II is haloalkyl styrene, and optionally wherein the halo group of haloalkyl is replaced with an optional substituent, for example, ethylenediamine tetra acetic acid, iminodiacetic acid, or iminodisuccinic acid.

A polymer compound for a conductive polymer including one or more repeating units a shown by the following general formula (1), and having a weight-average molecular weight in the range of 1,000 to 500,000, ##STR00001##
wherein R.sup.1 represents a hydrogen atom or a methyl group; R.sup.2 represents any of a single bond, an ester group, and a linear, branched, or cyclic hydrocarbon group having 1 to 12 carbon atoms and optionally containing either or both of an ether group and an ester group; R.sup.3 represents a linear or branched alkyl group having 1 to 4 carbon atoms with one or more hydrogen atoms in R.sup.3 being substituted by a fluorine atom(s); Z represents any of a single bond, a phenylene group, a naphthylene group, an ether group, and an ester group; and a is a number satisfying 0<a1.0.