Alignment properties of liquid crystal molecules with negative dielectric anisotropy on hydrogenated silicon carbide films

We study the alignment properties of liquid crystals (LCs) with a negative dielectric anisotropy on a hydrogenated silicon carbide (SiC:H) film, which is an alternative alignment material. SiC:H layers align LC molecules with a negative dielectric anisotropy via ion beam (IB) irradiation and control the pretilt angle in a range from 90 to 75° depending on the change of IB irradiation angle. Also, when they are exposed to high temperatures for a long time, they show robust properties without degradation. We conclude that although the SiC:H alignment layers are not sensitive to IB irradiation compared with the SiC layers, they show a potential as alternative LC alignment layers for IB irradiation method.