Method of plasma beam bombardment of aligning films for liquid crystals
First Claim
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1. A process for preparing an aligning substrate for liquid crystals, comprising the steps of:
- providing an aligning substrate comprising an aligning film; and
bombarding at least a portion of the substrate with a plasma beam from a plasma beam source at an incident angle of greater than 0°
to about 85°
thereby inducing a surface anisotropy and producing an alignment direction on the bombarded portion of the aligning substrate, wherein 0°
is a position of the beam normal to the substrate, wherein an azimuth angle has a reference axis that is a projection of the plasma beam on the aligning substrate in the first bombarding step and a zenithal angle is an angle between the alignment direction and the aligning substrate, whereini) the plasma beam bombarded portion of the aligning substrate imparts to a liquid crystal the alignment direction having an azimuth angle φ
of 70°
to 110° and
a zenithal angle θ
of about 0°
; and
ii) the plasma beam bombardment includes a second bombarding step and after the first bombarding step wherein the substrate or plasma source is rotated so that in the second bombarding step, the direction of plasma irradiation is perpendicular to irradiation of the first bombarding step, wherein the bombarded portion of the alignment substrate imparts to a liquid crystal the alignment direction having an azimuth angle φ
of 90° and
a zenithal angle θ
of 0°
to 5°
.
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Abstract
Methods for treating aligning substrates produces uniform alignment of liquid crystals in at least two modes. The method is based on the treatment of liquid crystal aligning substrates with a collimated or partially collimated plasma beam. In one embodiment, the method comprises a step of bombarding an aligning substrate with at least one plasma beam from a plasma beam source at a designated incident angle to align the atomic/molecular structure or the surface profile of the aligning substrate in at least one aligned direction.
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Citations
35 Claims
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1. A process for preparing an aligning substrate for liquid crystals, comprising the steps of:
-
providing an aligning substrate comprising an aligning film; and bombarding at least a portion of the substrate with a plasma beam from a plasma beam source at an incident angle of greater than 0°
to about 85°
thereby inducing a surface anisotropy and producing an alignment direction on the bombarded portion of the aligning substrate, wherein 0°
is a position of the beam normal to the substrate, wherein an azimuth angle has a reference axis that is a projection of the plasma beam on the aligning substrate in the first bombarding step and a zenithal angle is an angle between the alignment direction and the aligning substrate, whereini) the plasma beam bombarded portion of the aligning substrate imparts to a liquid crystal the alignment direction having an azimuth angle φ
of 70°
to 110° and
a zenithal angle θ
of about 0°
; andii) the plasma beam bombardment includes a second bombarding step and after the first bombarding step wherein the substrate or plasma source is rotated so that in the second bombarding step, the direction of plasma irradiation is perpendicular to irradiation of the first bombarding step, wherein the bombarded portion of the alignment substrate imparts to a liquid crystal the alignment direction having an azimuth angle φ
of 90° and
a zenithal angle θ
of 0°
to 5°
. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 32, 33)
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22. A process for preparing an aligning substrate for liquid crystals, comprising the steps of:
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providing an aligning substrate comprising an aligning film; and bombarding at least a portion of the substrate with a plasma beam from a plasma beam source at an incident angle of greater than 0°
to about 85°
thereby inducing a surface anisotropy and an alignment direction on the aligning substrate on the area of the aligning substrate bombarded by the plasma beam, wherein 0°
is a position normal to the substrate, wherein current density of the plasma beam is about 0.5 to about 30 μ
A/cm2, wherein the ion energy is from about 200 to about 700 eV, wherein the aligning film comprises polyvinyl cinnamate, unsaturated polyester, polyimide, poly(meth)acrylate, polyvinyl acetate, glass, quartz, gold, indium tin oxide, silicon, silicon oxide, hydrogenated diamondlike carbon, or hydrogenated amorphous silicon, wherein the plasma beam source is a closed drift thruster, wherein an azimuth angle has a reference axis that is a projection of the plasma beam on the aligning substrate in the first bombarding step and a zenithal angle is an angle between the alignment direction and the aligning substrate, whereini) the plasma beam bombarded portion of the aligning substrate imparts to a liquid crystal the alignment direction having an azimuth angle φ
of 70 to 110° and
a zenithal angle θ
of about 0°
; andii) the plasma beam bombardment includes a second bombarding step and after the first bombarding step, wherein the substrate or plasma source is rotated so that in the second bombarding step, the direction of plasma irradiation is perpendicular to the irradiation of the first bombarding step, wherein the bombarded portion of the alignment substrate imparts to a liquid crystal the alignment direction having an azimuth angle φ
of 90° and
a zenithal angle θ
of 0°
to 5°
. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 34, 35)
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Specification