Micro‐contact printing method for patterning liquid crystal alignment layers

Abstract We propose a patterning method of liquid crystal (LC) alignment layer for producing multi‐domain LC structures. By controlling thermal conditions during micro‐contact printing procedures and facilitating wetting properties of patterning materials, patterned LC orientation can be easily obtained on a bare ITO surface or other polymer films. The newly proposed patterning method is expected to be a very useful tool for fabricating multi‐domain LC structures to enhance or design electro‐optic properties of LC‐based devices.