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Investigation of ion‐beam‐treated SiO x film surfaces for liquid crystal alignment
Author(s) -
Son Phil Kook,
Choi SukWon
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
surface and interface analysis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.52
H-Index - 90
eISSN - 1096-9918
pISSN - 0142-2421
DOI - 10.1002/sia.4817
Subject(s) - stoichiometry , liquid crystal , dipole , ion , ion beam , analytical chemistry (journal) , molecule , surface roughness , chemistry , materials science , surface finish , crystal (programming language) , homogeneous , optoelectronics , chromatography , organic chemistry , physics , composite material , thermodynamics , computer science , programming language
We investigated the liquid crystal (LC) alignment on SiO x film surfaces as a function of ion beam exposure time using scanning probe microscopy and X‐ray photoemission spectroscopy. It was concluded that the LC alignment with high or low pretilt angles did not contribute to the morphological roughness but depended on the roughness in the electric potential of the SiO x surfaces. We also found that SiO x films with vertical LC alignment show relatively low values of stoichiometry parameters (1.42 < x < 1.57), whereas those with homogeneous LC alignment show relatively high values of stoichiometry parameters (1.58 < x < 1.77). All the experimental results showed that the electric dipole–dipole interactions between the LC molecules and the SiO x surfaces played a dominant role in aligning LC molecules on ion‐beam‐treated inorganic surfaces. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.