Electro-Optical Characteristics of Vertical Alignment Cell by Ion-Beam Exposure on the SiC Thin Film Layer

Abstract

We studied the electro-optical (EO) characteristics and nematic liquid crystal (NLC) aligning capabilities with the new alignment material of the Silicon Carbide (SiC) thin film using two kinds of ion beam (IB) gun. The SiC thin film exhibits good chemical and thermal stability. A vertical alignment of nematic liquid crystal by atomic beam exposure on the SiC thin film surface was achieved via all IB exposure system. The generated NLC tilt angle is about 87° using Kaufman type ion gun. The about 88° of stable tilt angle was achieved with incident angle of 10° using duoPIGatron type ion gun. An excellent voltage-transmittance (V-T) and response time curve of the IB-aligned VA-LCD using duoPIGatron type ion gun was observed. The V-T hysteresis characteristics of IB-aligned VA-LCD are almost the same as that of the rubbing-aligned VA-LCD. Consequently, the vertical alignment effect of liquid crystal and the good EO characteristics by the atomic beam alignment method on the SiC thin film layer can be achieved.