Vertical Alignment of Liquid Crystal on ITO Glass with Anodic Aluminum Oxide Thin Film

Abstract

Anodic Aluminum Oxide (AAO) thin films have been demonstrated as a vertical alignment layer for nematic liquid crystal in recent years. To control the liquid crystal orientation by applying the electric field, the AAO alignment layers need to be fabricated on the transparent electrode. In this work, the liquid crystal cell with the AAO alignment layer on Indium Tin Oxide (ITO) transparent electrode has been demonstrated. The performance of the cell has been studied. The transmittance of AAO-ITO substrate is around 55%. The polar anchoring strength of the AAO-ITO cell with good vertical alignment is 1.32 center dot 10-4J/m2, and the response time is around 90ms.