Liquid Crystal Display Device with Tunable Surface Wettability Alignment Layer of ZnO Using Magnetron Sputtering

Inorganic alignment technology has gradually become a research focus of Liquid Crystal (LC) alignment. In this paper, Zinc oxide (ZnO) inorganic films as an alternative alignment layer for liquid crystal displays were deposited at fixed oblique angles on Indium Tin Oxide (ITO) glass using magnetron sputtering. By controlling the wettability of the ZnO film through annealing, the alignment states of Liquid crystal molecules can be manipulated. The results showed that the transmittance of the specially treated ZnO film substrate met the need of LCD panels in the visible light band. The LCD cells fabricated using ZnO-based substrates have the similar transmittance-voltage curves as the one with electronically controlled birefringent (ECB) mode based on mechanically rubbed polyimide, and that the ZnO-based LCD cell has a lower threshold voltage due to the slightly higher pretilt angle of the liquid crystal molecules. In addition, the ZnO-based liquid crystal cell has a nearly half faster response time than the PIbased cell.