Joseph A. Castellano

Surface Anchoring of Liquid Crystal Molecules on Various Substrates

Abstract Ever since Mauguin described the fabrication of liquid crystal cells by rubbing glass plates with paper to obtain uniform homogeneous alignment, scientists have been attempting to study and understand the mechanism of anchoring and the subsequent alignment of these materials on various substrates. More than 35 different methods for creating surface alignment have been reported using both organic and inorganic films as well as various mechanical treatments. In this paper, many of these methods are reviewed and categorized. The mechanism of surface anchoring involves not one but several mechanisms. The nature of the surface material, the liquid crystal structure, and the past history of the surface, all play major roles in determining the mechanism for a specific technique.

Trends in the Global CRT Market

The worldwide CRT market continues to grow despite the pressure from flat panel displays, which has resulted in declining prices for CRT-based desktop color monitors for computers. The worldwide CRT market, led by color TV and desktop personal computer monitor applications, will grow from 264 million units valued at

27.2: Market Trends for Displays in Consumer Television

23 billion in 1998 to 339 million units valued at

Alignment of Liquid Crystal Molecules on Various Surfaces: Myths, Theories, Facts

26 billion in 2004. The largest electronic display industry segment in terms of value continues to be the CRT market. The combination of declining prices and consumer demand for larger screen sizes will stimulate sales of color television sets in the 27-inch diagonal sizes and above. The price/performance ratio of the CRT continues to be its main strength, while it is a major weakness for all of the challenging flat panel technologies, with the price component of the equation being the largest shortcoming.

Reliability and Standards in the U.S.A.

Worldwide shipments of color television sets in 2000 will top 135 million units valued at

Liquid Crystal Materials for Display Devices

60 billion. While the directly viewed cathode ray tube (CRT) remains the dominant display technology for television today, penetration of the market by projection systems and directly viewed flat panel displays will increase steadily during this decade. Unit shipments of projection televisions will double over the next four years, reaching 2.2 million units valued at

Large-screen display industry: market and technology trends for direct view and projection displays

5.9 billion in 2004. The market for televisions based on plasma display panels (PDPs) will grow to 1.1 million units valued at

Projection display industry market and technology trends

3.2 billion in 2004. In addition, LCD television shipments will reach 2.6 million units valued at

LIQUID CRYSTAL DISPLAY APPLICATIONS: Past, Present & Future

547 million in 2004. Finally, while it is still too early to forecast specific shipments, field emission displays and organic light emitting diode displays will also find applications in various segments of the television market.

CHAPTER 5 – Plasma Display Panels

Over 70 years ago, Mauguin1 produced an aligned liquid crystal layer by sandwiching p-azoxyanisole between two glass plates, the surfaces of which had been rubbed unidirectionally with paper. Ever since that classic experiment, scientists have been attempting to study and understand the mechanism of rubbing and the microscopic nature of the liquid crystal/surface interaction.