Control of Pre-tilt Angle and Evaluation of Azimuthal Anchoring Strength Considering the Pre-tilt Angle on the Alignment Film Formed by the ESD Method

The electrospray deposition (ESD) method is an established film-forming technique. The pre-tilt angle was controlled by using the improved ESD method has been proposed by our previous report. In this paper, a novel torque balance method for measuring an improved azimuthal anchoring strength for the high pre-tilt angle was proposed. The pre-tilt angle was controlled and the azimuthal anchoring energy depended on the pre-tilt angle was evaluated. The azimuthal anchoring energy was obtained in the range from 10−4 to 10−5 J/m2 depending on the pre-tilt angle.