Selective liquid crystal molecule orientation on ion beam irradiated tantalum oxide ultrathin films

We recently achieved the homogeneous alignment of liquid crystal (LC) on amorphous _Ta2O₅ layers. This study demonstrates that LC layers could be aligned either homogeneously or vertically by increasing the growth temperature of rf magnetron sputtering device and the irradiation time of the DuoPIGatron type Ar ion beam device causing uniform and dense plasma. We attained two LC orientations by observing Ta 4f and O 1s peak shifts with x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Moreover, the decreased thickness of layers with high- k dielectric constants helped to decrease driving LC voltages and in turn to achieve low power consumption.