Ferroelectric liquid crystal aligned on SiO2 thin films using ion‐beam deposition

Abstract— Results for a ferroelectric‐liquid‐crystal (FLC) display cell, aligned on inorganic SiO₂ thin‐film surfaces by using oblique ion‐beam sputtering deposition on the substrates, is presented. A large deposition angle from 60° to 80° can be employed for the thin alignment layer, with thicknesses varying from 5 to 40 nm. Two types of uniform alignment, chevron (before electrical treatment) and quazi‐bookshelf (after electrical treatment), were studied. High‐quality alignment on large‐sized substrates was also easily be achieved because of the linear design of the ion‐beam sputtering source, which was previously a significant challenge for FLC on SiO_x layers.