3 May 2001

Bringing liquid crystals into line

The new technique promises clearer, more reliable displays.

Liquid crystal displays are manufactured by a process owing its origins to experiments performed in 1906. Crystal alignment is produced by rubbing the surface of a substrate on which liquid crystals are to be deposited. Now a paper involving workers from four IBM labs could bring significant changes in LCD manufacture. The screen on the laptop shown on the cover was produced using a new process in which crystal alignment is induced by bombarding inorganic substrates with a low energy ion beam. The new process avoids physical contact with the substrate, which generates unwanted debris and, by inducing electrostatic discharge, can damage delicate electronic circuits.

Atomic-beam alignment of inorganic materials for liquid-crystal displays
P. CHAUDHARI, JAMES LACEY, JAMES DOYLE, EILEEN GALLIGAN, SHUI-CHI ALAN LIEN, ALESANDRO CALLEGARI, GARETH HOUGHAM, NORTON D. LANG, PAUL S. ANDRY, RICHARD JOHN, KEI-HSUING YANG, MINHUA LU, CHEN CAI, JAMES SPEIDELL, SAMPATH PURUSHOTHAMAN, JOHN RITSKO, MAHESH SAMANT, JOACHIM STÖHR, YOSHIKI NAKAGAWA, YOSHIMINE KATOH, YUKITO SAITOH, KAZUMI SAKAI, HIROYUKI SATOH, SHUICHI ODAHARA, HIROKI NAKANO, JOHJI NAKAGAKI & YASUHIKO SHIOTA
Nature 411, 56-59 (3 May 2001)
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Wiping out dirty displays
JOS VAN HAAREN
The manufacture of liquid crystal displays still involves a surprisingly low-tech and messy process: rubbing polymer films with a velvet cloth. A twenty-year search for a cleaner alternative may finally be over.
Nature 411, 29-30 (3 May 2001)
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3 May 2001 table of contents