Evaluation of Polar Anchoring Energy Based on Symmetric Oblique Incident Transmission Ellipsometry Method: the Voltage Diminution by Alignment Films

Polar anchoring energy coefficient is one of the important parameters to improve the performance of liquid crystal displays (LCDs). To determine the polar anchoring energy coefficient with high accuracy, the symmetric oblique incident transmission ellipsometry (SOITE) method with voltage correction is proposed. As a result, the polar anchoring energy coefficients are found to be little affected by the voltage diminution at the alignment film and can be determined by the SOITE method. However, the reduced elastic anisotropy kappa was not fixed by changing the thickness of the alignment film. These results indicate a possibility that the SOITE method with voltage correction can be used to determine the device parameters with high accuracy. Consequently, it may contribute to the technological development of high-performance LCDs. (C) 2011 The Japan Society of Applied Physics