The electro-optical behavior of liquid crystal molecules on the surface of SiO2 inorganic thin films

Inorganic thin films are well known for the liquid crystal alignment layers for LCoS application due to the higher thermal and photochemical stability of inorganic materials. The switching time of liquid crystals is the important factor for the projection application and the faster switching time is required for the high quality display. The switching behavior of liquid crystal molecules on inorganic thin films might be closely related with the surface properties of the inorganic thin films. Therefore the understanding of surface properties of the inorganic thin films is required for the enhancement of the switching time of liquid crystals of LCoS devices. In this work, we prepared the SiO2 inorganic thin films and the electro-optical behavior of liquid crystal molecules on SiO2 thin film was investigated. The sputtering condition of SiO2 thin film was closely related with the thickness and the surface morphology of SiO2 thin film. The switching time of liquid crystals with negative dielectric constant on SiO2 inorganic thin films was dominantly affected by the size of protrusion on the surface of SiO2 thin film and the surface roughness of SiO2 thin film was also related with the switching time of liquid crystals. From these results, it is possible to prepare the SiO2 inorganic thin film suitable for the liquid crystal alignment layer for VAN LC mode.