The effect of nanopatterning using rigiflex mold on liquid crystal alignment

The nanopatterning using rigiflex mold is introduced to solve the several problems, such as difficulty to generate the pretilt angle and to control the liquid crystal (LC) rising-up direction and low optical property, in general patterning techniques for LC alignment. The rigiflex mold allows the mold to peel off with directionality, followed by orientation of the free end chain of alignment layer with physical groove. The oriented free end chain induces the preferential direction of LC molecules in LC driving, solving the problems such as pretilt generation and control of LC rising-up direction. In addition, nanometer-scale pattern improves the optical property, such as brightness. This is attributed to the increase of LC order parameter and suppression of diffraction in nanometer-scale pattern. As a result, these results show the potential of nanopatterning technique as an alternative alignment method.