Symmetric-viewing liquid crystal display with alternating alignment layers in an inverse-twisted-nematic configuration

A symmetric-viewing inverse-twisted-nematic (ITN) liquid crystal display (LCD) with alternating alignment layers was developed using a stamping-assisted rubbing (SAR) technique. A patterned layer of a fluorinated acrylate polymer was transferred onto the first rubbed vertical-alignment layer prepared on a substrate by stamping. The fluorinated acrylate polymer provided a protective layer covering the first rubbed alignment layer during the second rubbing process, which promoted the vertical alignment of the LC molecules. The LC cell in the ITN geometry with two orthogonally rubbed alignment layers showed symmetric-viewing characteristics with fourfold symmetry. The SAR technique was shown to be a mask-free alignment method of producing multidomains for symmetric-viewing LCDs.