Anchoring energy of nematic liquid crystals on zinc oxide film

The potential of a ZnO transparent electrode as a liquid crystal (LC) alignment layer was assessed by measuring the surface LC anchoring strength. This can be determined by observing the direction of the William domain, which is one of the many patterns generated in liquid crystal electroconvection. The surface of the ZnO layer is modulated by a conventional rubbing method with a rubbing machine and ion beam method to align the LCs and thus, allow the ZnO layer to act as an LC alignment layer. To increase the surface anchoring energy of the ZnO film further, a linear ion-beam irradiation was carried out after rubbing the ZnO layer for the synergistic effect of the alignment techniques, after which the azimuthal surface anchoring energy of the ZnO layer was about 2.23 x 10(-5) J/m(2), which is comparable to the conventional alignment layer, polyimide, used at currently LC displays.