Rubbing alignment is widely used in display industry, Rubbing cause anisotropy in rubbed polyimide thin film influence the alignment of Liquid Crystal. The major part of this article is to analyze surface optical anisotropy of rubbed polyimide thin film. RAS signals and surface free energies of rubbed polyimide thin film with different rubbing strength are measured, and relationship between anisotropy of surface and rubbing strength is discussed. The mechanism of alignment can be understood by this work. Reflection Anisotropy Spectroscopy (RAS) has been used in Semiconductor as a tool to monitor crystal growth for many years. RAS is a non-contact and non-destructive measurement method. It only measures the difference of two orthogonal complex reflection signals and optical anisotropy of surface. It¡¦s very sensitive to the anisotropy of surface. In the current studies, RAS has been used to detect surface anisotropy of rubbed polymer. We measured the surface free energy of the rubbed polyimide thin films. It has been found that surface free energy is of anisotropy due to the application of mechanical rubbing to the polymer surface. Pretilt angle influences the alignment of liquid crystals. The molecule orientation of PI surface and anisotropy of rubbed PI surface effect pretilt angle¡CPretilt angles measured by pretilt angle measurement system compare with RAS signals. RAS signals, anisotropy of surface free energies, and pretilt angles are increasing with increasing rubbing strength.

This work demonstrates the pretilt angle controllable photo-alignment effect in nanoparticles and azo-dye doped liquid crystal film. Followed by increasing the absorbed azo-dye, the vertical alignment induced by nanoparticles of polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxanes (POSS) can be changed from high pretilt to low pretilt angle. Competition between the homogeneously aligned azo-dye and POSS-induced spontaneous vertical alignment domain generated the variable pretilt angle. The pretilt angle is a function of the pumping intensity and can be controlled continuously within the range of 0¢X~90¢X. With the sufficient absorption of photo excited azo-dye, The POSS induced vertical alignment can be switch to homogeneous alignment. The pretilt angle and surface energy are also examined to confirm the alignment effect. Both nanoparticles and azo-dye induced vertical and homogeneous alignment are non contact methods, and suitable for low temperature plastic process.

The purpose of this thesis is to study the relation between surface optical anisotropy of polyimide thin film with different rubbing strength and liquid crystal alignment by means of reflection anisotropy spectroscopy (RAS). We discuss the surface properties of rubbed polyimide thin film by measuring the surface roughness, surface free energy and pretilt angle. RAS is a non-contact optical probe of surfaces. It measures the difference in reflectance of normal incidence linearly polarized light between two orthogonal directions in the surface plane, and we can obtain the surface character of sample by analyzing the signals. It is isotropic of polyimide thin film surface without rubbing, and reflection anisotropy (RA) signal is zero. The non-zero RA signal, i.e. anisotropic of surface, is revealed because of rubbed polyimide thin film surface. The RA signal is increasing with an increase in rubbing strength. In the results, we found that the pertilt angle is increasing with a decrease in surface free energy, and discovered the correlation between RA signal strength of characteristic wavelength and pretilt angle of liquid crystal at the rubbed polyimide thin film.

In our study, we use mixed polyimide method and different rubbing conditions to modify surface characteristics for producing zigzag-free surface stablized ferroelectric liquid crystal(SSFLC) device. We utilize contact angle measuring system to obtain the surface free energy and also use rotating crystal method to measure the pretilt angle. Finally, we observe optical textures of SSFLC device with polarized optical microscope. In mixed polyimide experiment, we can approximately provide the pretilt angle between 0¢X and 90¢X, and we also demonstrate different pretilt angle is modified by the surface of different surface free energy. In the end of this experiment, we obtain the better optical texture of SSFLC device in 18.3¢X pretilt angle, but part regions of the texture still possess zigzag defects. In different rubbing conditions experiment, when the cumulative number of rub is 2 or 3 times in 0.3mm pile impression, we can produce zigzag-free SSFLC device in different horizontal polyimide alignment materials.

Reflectance anisotropy spectroscopy is a non-contact technique for surface detection. which means through the optical reflection from surface of the substrate measured. Because of its high sensitivity, RAS is used for in real-time control of semiconductor epitaxy. On our study, RAS is used to study the surface characteristics of liquid crystal alignment layer. We used rubbing for polyimide film to achieve alignment purposes. The rubbing strength is determined by adjusting the pile impress and the number of rubbed. We found that the anisotropy spectroscopy will appear after rubbing. And the strength of RA signals changes with photon energy of the probe beam. The pretile angle of the liquid crystal sandwiched in between rubbed PI show certain degree correlation with RA strength. In addition, using surface free energy measurement to explore the relationship with pretilt angle and try to connect three of them. We also tried to measure the reflection signal from the sample back. We found the signal of sample back would decay in UV region and it may be a result of UV absorption in the substrate.

Rubbing on polyimide thin film surface is an important procedure of alignment in the commercial display industry. Present on the surface of friction anisotropy, there will be corresponding to the pre-tiltangle. Monitoring and quality controlling of rubbing procedure will be the major issue. Reflection Anisotropy Spectroscopy is a powerful monitoring technology. Reflection Anisotropy Spectroscopy is a non-destructive detective system. Through optical method we could get property of our samples without damaging. After our process of survey, samples could be used in next manufactured step. In this thesis, we detected that monomers would occur some changes in a small amount in room temperature. We could find those changes effect the peak region of RA spectra and the feature in pretilt angle.

In this study, the PDMS with microgroove structure was used controlling pretilt anlge of liquid crystal. Polydimethylsiloxane, also called PDMS, is one transparent, flexible, and stable material. It was usually fabricated the flexible display and so on. Based on Groove Theory, we can create the microgroove structure with the different groove depths and the width of the lines on PDMS by Replica Molding Method, in order to controlling the pretilt anlge of liquid crystal. We used the photoresist with different thickness to developing, and then the groove will get with different depth of groove. The PDMS was injected to the surface of groove with slow motion. When the liquid-like PDMS was curing, the PDMS can readily convert into solid elastomers by cross-linking. Finally, The microgrooved PDMS structure will obtain.

The liquid-crystal display because matches to the method is different , common has the TN monitor , the STN monitor , and the MVA monitor . Because these match to the method difference , therefore liquid crystal molecule pretilt angle is also different . Present liquid crystal molecule pretilt angle choice way includes : (1) Chooses the different polyimide material , after specific rubded intensity , but produces specific pretilt angle. (2) Uses low pretilt angle the polyimide material , mixes high pretilt angle according to the different proportion the polyimide material , but achieved accent of the pretilt angle changes . But in this research proposed double alignment layers , takes the first floor by homotropic layers , uses homogenous layers does for the upper formation , the surface free energy of the alignment layer can be easily controlled by adjusting the thickness of the top polyimide layer, similarly may achieve the accent to change liquid crystal molecule pretilt angle the effect . And may compensate the liquid crystal display to be insufficient because of rubbed polyimide , but has the question which dark condition is exposed , has a higher contrast gradient . Because this experiment scope accent changes the effect in liquid crystal molecule higher pretilt angle good , also kneading board various regions liquid crystal molecule pretilt the angle uniformity is higher , therefore may effectively apply on various types homotropic liquid crystal display component , for example: MVA , VA-STN , DSTN liquid-crystal display .

Reflection anisotropy spectroscopy (RAS) is a non-destructive optical technique which can be used to measure the surface properties of sample. We use the technique to detect the optical anisotropy of rubbed polyimide thin film. Atomic force microscopy study of rubbed polyimide showed that rubbing produced microgrooves on the surface of the polyimide thin films, and the surface roughness of the polymer thin films increased slightly with the rubbing strength. Reflection anisotropy signals have been found to be generated on the surface of polyimide thin film on completion of mechanical rubbing, and will increase with an increase in the rubbing strength. We also tried to find out the correlation between RA strength of the polyimide alignment layer and pretilt angle of liquid crystal at the rubbed polyimide films.

This dissertation covers some important topics on the liquid crystal-substrate surface effects, including theoretical derivations and confirming experimental results. The research work is expected to make important impacts on liquid crystal device designs and to open new doors for further research along these topics. In this dissertation, a novel high-electric-field technique is developed to characterize the anchoring energy of vertically-aligned liquid crystal cells. Both theoretical analyses and confirming experimental results are presented. Vertically-aligned liquid crystal cells with buffed polyimide alignment layers are used to validate the measurement techniques. Based on the voltage-dependent transmittance of the liquid crystal cells, a linear fitting can be obtained, which leads to a precise determination of the anchoring energy. If some specific liquid crystal material parameters are known, then the traditional cell capacitance measurements can be avoided. Anchoring energy and cell gap effects on liquid crystal response time is theoretically analyzed and experimentally investigated. A novel theory on the liquid crystal dynamics is developed. In this part, two different theoretical approaches are discussed: one is surface dynamic equation method and the other is effective cell gap method. These two different approaches lead to consistent results, which are also confirmed by our experimental results. This work opens a new door for LCD industry to optimize liquid crystal response time, and it is especially critical for liquid crystal cells with thin cell gap, which is a promising approach for fast response time liquid crystal display. Pretilt angle effects on liquid crystal dynamics are analyzed theoretically and validated experimentally. Analytical expressions are derived to describe liquid crystal response time under nonzero pretilt angle conditions. The theoretical analysis is confirmed experimentally using vertically-aligned liquid crystal cells. These results quantitatively correlate pretilt angles with liquid crystal response time, which is important for optimizing liquid crystal response time.