Alignment and switching behaviors of liquid crystal on a-SiOx thin films deposited by a filtered cathodic arc process

A new method is described for the preparation of silicon oxide layers, which produces vertical alignment of liquid crystal with controlled pretilt angles, by a reactive filtered cathodic arc deposition under oblique incidence geometry. The pretilt angle is dependent on the angle of deposition, but is not simply caused by the surface roughness. The achievable pretilt angle by this method is similar to 5.5 degrees, which allows uniform switching behavior under an applied electric field. (c) 2007 American Institute of Physics.