International Business Machines Corporation

Kei-Hsiung Yang

Minhua Lu

Alan Edward Rosenbluth

Robert Lee Melcher

Evan G Colgan

James Lawrence Sanford

Chandrasekhar Narayan

Praveen Chaudhari

James Patrick Doyle

Shui-Chih Alan Lien

James Andrew Lacey

Eileen Ann Galligan

Gareth Geoffrey Hougham

Fuad Elias Doany

Lawrence Shungwei Mok

Frank Robert Libsch

Thomas Mario Cipolla

Alessandro Cesare Callegari

Leathen Shi

Derek Brian Dove

James Henry Glownia

Kenneth C Ho

Hiroki Nakano

Han-Ping D Shieh

Teruhiro Nakasogi

Istvan Lovas

Kun-Wei Lin

A liquid crystal display (LCD) device comprises a first substrate having a grooved surface profile; an alignment film layer of inorganic material formed on the grooved surface and having the grooved surface profile, the alignment film of inorganic material being aligned in response to an ion beam incident to the grooved surface in a direction parallel to a groove direction; a second substrate aligned opposite the first substrate for forming a plurality of LCD cells having liquid crystal (LC) material deposited therein, wherein LC molecules align parallel to the grooves for enhanced LCD performance.

Method and system for improving ion beam alignment for liquid crystal displays by a grooving under layer

A method for preparing an alignment layer surface provides a surface on the alignment layer. The surface is bombarded with ions, and reactive gas is introduced to the ion beam to saturate dangling bonds on the surface. Another method for preparing an alignment layer surface provides a surface on the alignment layer. The surface is bombarded with ions and quenched with a reactive component to saturate dangling bonds on the surface.

Stability of ion beam generated alignment layers by surface modification

A liquid crystal (LC) lightvalve comprising a twisted nematic LC layer whose molecules are aligned with pixel edges at the mirror backplane, thereby providing improved contrast and efficiency, and reduced visibility of post spacers in black state. The present invention is directed to an LC structure wherein the backplane is rubbed in a direction rectilinear with pixel edges. The LC layer is given the same twist rotation and birefringence as in the conventional TN lightvalve. Polarization control is maintained by illuminating the lightvalve with light whose polarization is rotated by the twist angle relative to the x,y, pixel axes, and by collecting the orthogonally polarized component of the reflected light. The lightvalve top glass is thus rubbed in a direction which is rotated by the twist angle from the horizontal or vertical direction at which the backplane is rubbed.

Liquid crystal structure with improved black state, and projector using same

A structure (and method) for a reflective-type liquid crystal display includes a first-type electrode, a second-type electrode positioned opposite the first-type electrode and being of an opposite type than the first-type electrode and a liquid crystal material between the first-type electrode and the second-type electrode, wherein at least one of the first-type electrode and the second-type electrode includes an amorphous layer adjacent the liquid crystal material.

Methods of reducing unbalanced DC voltage between two electrodes of reflective liquid crystal display by thin film passivation

Multi-domain liquid crystal cells having twist angles less than 90 degrees, and LCDs containing such liquid crystal cells, are provided. Such liquid crystal cells are stable, particularly at zero and high fields, and provide wide viewing angles. Also provided are methods of using an adjustable particle beam in combination with a mask to generate multi-domains alignments. Such methods are useful for producing liquid crystal cells in general, and for producing the novel multi-domain low twist angle liquid crystal cells of the present invention in particular.

Multi-domain low twist angle liquid crystal cells and methods of production thereof

Reflective light valve

Method for forming alignment layer by ion beam surface modification

A reflective liquid crystal lightvalve for modulating the polarization of incident light within a specified band of wavelengths into on and off states, comprises: (i) a pixelated reflective backplane; (ii) a first liquid crystal layer, positioned proximate the pixelated reflective backplane, the first liquid crystal layer being tuned in the off state to switch incident light at the center of the specified band of wavelengths into a state that is not fully off; and (iii) a second liquid crystal layer, positioned proximate the first liquid crystal layer wherein the first liquid crystal layer is positioned between the second liquid crystal layer and the pixelated reflective backplane, the second liquid crystal layer having a birefringence which, at a given depth within its thickness, is substantially equal and opposite to a birefringence of a layer within the first liquid crystal layer that is located at a matching distance from a midplane separating the first and second liquid crystal layers.

Band-shifted liquid crystal structure for projection of images without spectral distortion

A single-domain, two-domain or four-domain homeotropic- or tilted homeotropic-alignment liquid crystal display device of either the transmissive-type or reflective-type having a high contrast ratio, a good display quality, and a high photo-stability (and a method of producing the same), includes a homeotropic- or tilted homeotropic-alignment layer which includes an oxide layer prepared by a single oblique evaporation of an activated oxide source. The angle between the evaporation direction and the substrate plane forms an angle from about &plusmn;20&deg; to about &plusmn;90&deg;, and the thickness of the oxide layer is from about 10 nm to about 200 nm. A method of homeotropic-alignment or tilted homeotropic-alignment of liquid crystals by a single oblique evaporation process is also provided.

Method of homeotropic alignment or tilted homeotropic alignment of liquid crystals by single oblique evaporation of oxides and liquid crystal display device formed thereby

An illumination apparatus including: at least two light sources, in which each of the light sources produce independent light beams; a controller for sequentially driving each of the light sources at a high power above their respective maximum rated power, to produce a respective light beam for each light source, and for leaving the remaining light sources at a low power below their respective maximum rated power, such that the time-average of the high and low power levels are set to a predetermined value for each of the light sources; and a combiner and director for sequentially combining each of the light beams from their respective light sources while being driven at high power into a common output beam with a fixed direction. Various combiner and directors are disclosed including tiltable mirrors under the control of the controller as well as optical systems.

Apparatus and method for intensifying illumination brightness by time-superposing multiple pulsed light sources

Method and apparatus for real-time on-off contrast ratio optimization in liquid crystal displays

A method of assembling a liquid crystal display device including a pair of substrates combined together with a sealing member and a liquid crystal interposed between the substrates, includes the steps of disposing a plurality of spacers in the area of the sealing member between the substrates, positioning a frame on an outside surface of each substrate, the frame being aligned with the sealing member, and applying pressure to each frame so that a region corresponding to a display area is substantially pressure-free and a uniform cell gap is obtained.

Stress-free liquid crystal cell assembly

A twist discotic-type liquid-crystal or liquid-crystalline film with negative birefringence is as a compensation film for either single-domain or two-domain liquid crystal display cells to achieve better view-angle characteristics, less color-shift as a function of applied voltage, and faster response times than uncompensated 90&deg;-twist single-domain or two-domain cells.

Discotic-type twist-film compensated single-domain or two-domain twisted nematic liquid crystal displays

An LCD reflection display array implementing two or more layers of reflecting front surface mirrors with an upper layer mirror(s) having absorbing back surface(s). The mirror surfaces associated with each pixel are electrically connected to the pixel output electrode. The lower mirrors are appropriately positioned in the three dimensions to achieve nearly 100% aperture fill.

Growing community of inventors

Katonah, NY, United States of America

Kei-Hsiung Yang