Study on the molecular alignment failure caused by the rubbing process

Abstract

The rubbing treatment as a fabrication process of LCD is widely used now. Sometimes the rubbing treatment itself becomes a cause of the defect of the molecular alignment, because the rubbing cloth rubs the surface of the alignment film directly.
In this study, we investigate the defect of the vertical alignment film after the rubbing treatment. By means of the atomic force microscopy, surface profiler and micro-sampling mass spectrometry, assumed causes such as the contamination transferred by the rubbing cloth and the surface topology scratched by the rubbing cloth were studied.