A pixel-isolated flexible liquid crystal display with a homogeneous alignment on an amorphous _ZrO2 thin film

In this study, we developed a pixel-isolated flexible liquid crystal display (LCD) with a homogeneous alignment on inorganic thin-film surfaces using ion beam (IB) irradiation. The amorphous ZrO₂ (a-ZrO₂) film, used as a homogeneous alignment layer on the plastic substrate, was deposited at room temperature. Pixel walls based on poly(dimethylsiloxane) were fabricated using a simple photolithographic process. Even under external tension, the two plastic substrates remained tightly attached by the pixel walls at each pixel; the highly uniform alignment of liquid crystals was optimized on the a-ZrO₂ surface. The electro-optical performance of our flexible device was highly reliable and comparable to that of conventional glass-substrate LCDs.