We investigated a solution-driven Yttrium Tin Oxide (YSnO) film that was imprinted using a parallel nanostructure as a liquid crystal (LC) alignment layer. The imprinting process was conducted at the annealing temperature of 100℃. To evaluate the effect of this process, we conducted surface analyses including atomic force microscopy (AFM). During imprinting, the surface roughness was reduced, and anisotropic characteristics were observed. Planar LC alignment was observed at a pretilt angle of 0.22° on YSnO film. Surface anisotropy induced by imprinting method forces LC to align along the direction of the parallel nanostructure, which is an alternative to conventional polyimide treated using a rubbing process.

We demonstrate an alignment technology using an imprinting process on an inorganic NiOx film. The aligned nanopattern was fabricated on a silicon wafer by laser interference lithography. The aligned nano pattern was then imprinted onto the sol-gel driven NiOx film using an imprinting process at an annealing temperature of 150℃. After the imprinting process, parallel grooves had been formed on the NiOx film. Atomic force microscopy and water contact angle measurements were performed to confirm the parallel groove on the NiOx film. The grooves caused liquid crystal alignment through geometric restriction, similar to grooves formed by the rubbing process on polyimide. The liquid crystal cell exhibited a pretilt angle of 0.2°, which demonstrated homogeneous alignment.