Pretilt angle control for single-cell-gap transflective liquid crystal cells

Doping a minute amount of photocurable monomers in a liquid crystal (LC) cell, we can stabilize the LC alignment after UV exposure by forming a LC pretilt layer on the substrate surface. By varying the UV exposure time, we can control the pretilt angle of the LCs continuously. A single-cell-gap transflective LC cell was fabricated through a photomask. The LC molecules at the transmissive and reflective pixels are pretilted at 54 degrees and 65 degrees, respectively, at which optimal phase retardations of half and quarter wavelengths are achieved. This type of transflective LC display shows an excellent electro-optical match between the two subpixels. (C) 2008 American Institute of Physics.