Alignment Capabilities and EO Performances of VA-LCD Using Transparent Conductive Al-doped ZnO Films

Transparent electrodes are indispensable for most of the flat panel display as liquid crystal display (LCD). We investigated liquid crystal (LC) aligning capabilities and electro-optical (EO) characteristics of transparent electrodes as Al-doped ZnO (ZnO:Al) substituting indium tin oxide (ITO). The experiment results show that a uniform vertical LC alignment on ZnO:Al electrodes based on a rubbed polyimide (PI) surface were achieved. A high pretilt angle of about 88° was obtained. EO performances of the VA-LCD on rubbed PI surfaces with ZnO:Al is almost the same as that of the VA-LCD with ITO electrodes. These results appeared that ZnO:Al electrodes as transparent electrodes of LCDs could substitute ITO electrodes.