Microrubbing technique to-produce high pretilt multidomain liquid crystal alignment

We disclose a microrubbing (mu-rubbing) technique to create multidomain alignment in liquid crystal displays. A small metallic sphere under sufficient load is used to directly rub a polyimide alignment layer that is known to enforce homeotropic boundary conditions of the liquid crystal. We demonstrate a 47 mum linewidth and a 10degrees pretilt with respect to the substrate plane. We report on the electro-optic performance properties and viewing angle characteristics of four domain samples,,where the midplane angle of the director is oriented in four different directions. (C) 2004 American Institute of Physics.