• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2008.04a
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• pp.41-41
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• 2008

In general, polyimides (PIs) are used in alignment layers in liquid crystal displays (LCDs). The rubbing alignment technique has been widely used to align the LC molecules on the PI layer. Although this method is suitable for mass production of LCDs because of its simple process and high productivity, it has certain limitations. A rubbed PI surface includes debris left by the cloth, and the generation of electrostatic charges during the rubbing induces local defects, streaks, and a grating-like wavy surface due to nonuniform microgrooves that degrade the display resolution of computer displays and digital television. Additional washing and drying to remove the debris, and overwriting for multi-domain formation to improve the electro-optical characteristics such as the wide viewing angle, reduce the cost-effectiveness of the process. Therefore, an alternative to non-rubbing techniques without changing the LC alignment layer (i.e, PI) is proposed. The surface of LC alignment layers as a function of the ion beam (IE) energy was modified. Various pretilt angles were created on the IB-irradiated PI surfaces. After IB irradiation, the Ar ions did not change the morphology of the PI surface, indicating that the pretilt angle was not due to microgrooves. To verify the compositional behavior for the LC alignment, the chemical bonding states of the ill-irradiated PI surfaces were analyzed in detail by XPS. The chemical structure analysis showed that ability of LCs to align was due to the preferential orientation of the carbon network, which was caused by the breaking of C=O double bonds in the imide ring, parallel to the incident 18 direction. The potential of non-rubbing technology for fabricating display devices was further conformed by achieving the superior electro-optical characteristics, compared to rubbed PI.

• Journal of Satellite, Information and Communications
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.89-93
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• 2015

Ion-beam irradiation(IB) on $HfO_2$ surface induced high-performance liquidcrystal(LC) driving at a 1-V threshold with vertical alignment of liquid crystals(LC). The high-k materials Atomic layer deposition was used to obtain LC orientation on ultrathin and high-quality films of $HfO_2$ layers. To analyze surface morphological transition of $HfO_2$ which can act as physical alignment effect of LC, atomic force microscopy images are employed with various IB intensities. The contact angle was measured to elucidate the mechanism of vertical alignment of LC on $HfO_2$ with IB irradiation. Contact angle measurement show the surface energy changes via IB intensity increasing.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2009.11a
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• pp.159-159
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• 2009

We characterize a flexible self-assembled liquid crystal display (LCD) fabricated from a polyimide (PI) alignment layer with polydimethylsiloxane pixel walls. Ion beam (IB) irradiation aligned LC molecules in the PI layer and bonded two flexible plastic substrates in a one-step assembly of the pixel walls. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopic analysis, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and scanning electron microscopy provided chemical and physical evidence for the formation of stable chemical bonds between the PI layer and the PDMS pixel walls in addition to the important maintenance of a uniform 6 um gap between the two substrates without the use of any epoxy resins or other polymers.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2005.05a
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• pp.62-65
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• 2005

We studied the nematic liquid crystal (NLC) alignment capability by the Ultraviolet (UV) alignment method on a-C:H thin-films, and investigated electro-optical performances of the UV aligned twisted nematic (TN)-liquid crystal display (LCD) with the UV exposure on a-C:H thin film surface. A good LC alignment by UV irradiation on a-C:H thin-film surfaces was achieved. Monodomain alignment of the UV aligned TN-LCD can be observed. The good electro-optical (EO) characteristics of the UV aligned TN-LCD was observed with oblique UV exposure on the a-C:H thin film surface for 1min.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2008.04a
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• pp.42-42
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• 2008

Considerable attention has been focused on the applications of flexible liquid crystal (LC)-based displays because of their many potential advantages, such as portability, durability, light weight, thin packaging, flexibility, and low power consumption. To develop flexible LCDs that are capable of delivering high-quality moving images, like conventional glass-substrate LCDs, the LC device structure must have a stable alignment layer of LC molecules, concurrently support uniform cell gaps, and tightly bind two flexible substrates under external tension. However, stable LC molecular alignment has not been achieved because of the layerless LC alignment, and consequently high-quality images cannot be guaranteed. To solve these critical problems, we have proposed a PDMS pixel-wall based bonding method via the IB irradiation was developed for fasten the two substrates together strongly and maintain uniform cell gaps. The effect of the IB irradiation on PDMS with PI surface was also evaluated by side structure configuration and a result of x-ray photoelectron spectroscopic analysis of PDMS interlayer as a function of binder with substrates. large number of PDMS pixel-walls are tightly fastened to the surface of each flexible substrate and could maintain a constant cell gap between the LC molecules without using any other epoxy or polymer. To enhance the electro-optical performance of the LC device, we applied an alignment method that creates pretilt angle on the PI surface via ion beam irradiation. Using this approach, our flexible LCDs have a contrast ratio of 132:1 and a response time of about 15 ms, resulting in highly reliable electro-optical performance in the bent state, comparable to that of glass-substrate LCDs.