ALEXANDRIA, Va., June 16 -- United States Patent no. 12,306,374, issued on May 20, was assigned to NICHIA Corp. (Anan, Japan).

"Method for producing thin film, thin film forming material, optical thin film, and optical member" was invented by Gentaro Tanaka (Tokushima, Japan) and Hirofumi Tanaka (Tokushima, Japan).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "Disclosed are a method for producing an optical thin film having a low refractive index, a thin film forming material, an optical thin film, and an optical member. The method for producing an optical thin film includes forming a vapor deposition film by depositing a thin film forming material on an object in a non-oxidizing atmosphere by a physical vapo...