Nanotopology of Polyimide Films Obliquely Treated by Plasma Beam and Liquid Crystal Alignment

Abstract

The correlation between nanorelief of polyimide films obliquely treated by the beam of accelerated Ar plasma and liquid crystal (LC) alignment on these films is investigated. It is shown that the plasma beam treatment results in the change of films' roughness in a nanometer scale. In this case, the values of roughness in the directions parallel and perpendicular to the plasma beam projection on the films are different and dependent on the exposure dose. Clear correlation between the anisotropy of surface roughness and the direction of LC alignment is observed. This implies that topology is important, possibly decisive, factor of planar LC alignment on the surfaces obliquely treated by plasma beam.

Keywords:

• alignment
• atomic force microscopy
• ion beam alignment
• liquid crystal
• plasma treatment

Acknowledgments

Authors thank O. Lytvyn and P. Lytvyn, members of NASU Centre of the collective uses of devices at Lashkaryov Institute of Semiconductor Physics, for AFM measurements of our probes.

This work was supported by National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (grant No. 10/07-H).