A Pixel-Isolated Flexible Liquid Crystal Display with a Homogeneous Alignment on an Amorphous ZrO2 Thin Film

Abstract

In this study, we developed a pixel-isolated flexible liquid crystal display (LCD) with a homogeneous alignment on inorganic thin-film surfaces using ion beam (IB) irradiation. The amorphous ZrO2 (a-ZrO2) film, used as a homogeneous alignment layer on the plastic substrate, was deposited at room temperature. Pixel walls based on poly(dimethylsiloxane) were fabricated using a simple photolithographic process. Even under external tension, the two plastic substrates remained tightly attached by the pixel walls at each pixel; the highly uniform alignment of liquid crystals was optimized on the a-ZrO2 surface. The electro-optical performance of our flexible device was highly reliable and comparable to that of conventional glass-substrate LCDs. (C) 2010 The Electrochemical Society. [DOI: 10.1149/1.3492409] All rights reserved.