Technique Promises LCDs on Any Substrate

Today's liquid crystal displays (LCDs) sandwich liquid crystal between two layers of material, typically glass. A technique developed by scientists at Philips Research Laboratories and Eindhoven University of Technology, both in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, may enable the "painting" of LCDs on any surface.

The researchers, who reported the work in the May 2 issue of Nature, applied a mixture of E7 liquid crystal, a polymer precursor and an ultraviolet-sensitive dye to a single substrate. Exposing the thin film to 400-nm radiation through a mask induced the formation of 500 x 500-µm polymer cells around the electrodes. Subsequent curing under a 340-nm source separated the liquids and created 10-µm-thick tops on the 10-µm-deep liquid-crystal-filled cells.