Wide-viewing observation and high-spatial resolution characterization of rubbed polyimide film for liquid crystal display

Molecular orientation of rubbed polyimide (PI) film affects the quality of an LCD. It is necessary to characterize the molecular orientation of rubbed PI film in order to develop LCD. Recently, LCD panel size has been increas ing while pixel size has been decreasing. For an advance of LCD, we have de veloped two techniques to characterize the molecular orientation of rubbed PI film. The first is a technique of the wide viewing. It visualizes the mo lecular orientation in the area of 5x10 mm with one snap shot. It is effect ive to rapidly characterize the molecular orientation in a producing proces s of LCD. The second is a technique of a high-spatial resolution. The spati al resolution is about 1 mum. It is effective to characterize the molecular orientation within a small area such as a pixel of TIT LCD. We demonstrate d the performance of two techniques by measuring the rubbed PI film.