41.4: Discontinuous Alignment Thin-Film Formation by Self-Organized Dewetting

A new discontinuous alignment layer is developed. The formation of such discontinuous structure is created by self‐organized dewetting. Different dewetting mechanisms have been investigated. Such a discontinuous alignment layer can be fabricated on top of a continuous alignment layer. This heterogeneous surface for liquid crystal alignment can be used to produce arbitrary pretilt angles for the liquid crystal cell. Experiments using photo‐aligned polymer have been done to verify the dewetting theory. The alignment layers thus produced are proved to be robust. Moreover, the dewetting step is a fully controllable process and is compatible with existing manufacturing techniques.