SBIR-STTR Award

This Small Business Technology Transfer Phase I research project will enable the widespread use of Ferro-electric Liquid Crystal (FLC) electro-optic devices which is currently impossible because their high fabrication costs become prohibitive for displays over a few centimeters in size. New FLC materials are needed to construct well-aligned FLC cells and consequently larger and less expensive devices. This research will develop polymer dopants that expedite processing and increase yield of well-aligned FLC cells by designing and synthesizing block copolymers that dissolve in the isotropic phase of the Liquid Crystal (LC) and self-assemble into a network when the LC cools. It will characterize the physical properties of these FLC gels to show they retain fast electro-optic (EO) responses and test the new FLC gels for improved durability and manufacturability. Approximately 2 billion small flat panel displays are used annually in cell phones, PDAs, iPods, etc. The additives developed would allow FLCs to be processed into displays in this size range, providing a step-change in resolution and speed. Scientifically, LC gels and elastomers have proven to be a fascinating class of materials and theory is just beginning to offer tantalizing predictions of phenomena that may be found when experimentalists begin to explore FLC gels. This project will be at the cutting edge of experimental research in FLC gels, providing the first glimpse into the consequences of orientational coupling and rubber elasticity in chiral smectic LCs

"This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5)." This Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase II project will enable the widespread use of ferroelectric liquid crystal (FLC) electro-optic devices, leading to a new generation of displays that have greater speed, higher resolution and lower power consumption than today's liquid crystals displays (LCDs), which use nematic LCs. A proprietary family of additives, "polymer dopants" demonstrated in Phase I, overcomes the main technical obstacles to large-scale application of FLC devices: manufacturing and stabilizing properly aligned cells. The proposed work will develop FLC-polymer materials that expedite processing and increase the yield of well-aligned FLC cells. In Phase I the team: 1) Identified side-group liquid crystal polymers that dissolve in FLC. , 2) Showed that the FLC-polymer mixtures retain fast electro-optic (EO) responses3) Demonstrated that the FLC-polymer mixtures robustly and rapidly adopt the proper alignment, giving bistable switching that is elusive in the FLC alone. In Phase II the team will establish the structure-activity relationships for polymer dopants. It will optimize the FLC-polymer mixtures to establish reliable processes to produce well aligned FLC cells in high yield at high production rates. Approximately 2x109 small flat panel displays are used annually in cell phones, PDAs, iPods, etc. Currently, nematic LCDs overwhelmingly dominate this market $20 billion/year in LCDs, manufactured using $350 million/year of LC materials. The additives developed in this project will allow FLCs to be processed into displays in this size range, providing a step-change in resolution and speed in LCDs. This will lay the foundation for moving FLCs into LCD TVs ($86.3 billion/year market in 2008, growing rapidly). Enabling commercial production of FLC displays 10 cm and up could revolutionize display technology and potentially fuel the growth of display manufacturers in the U.S. Scientifically, solutions of polymers in FLCs represent a nascent class of materials that has hardly been explored. This project is at the cutting edge of experimental research in LCs, providing the first glimpse into the consequences of orientational coupling in chiral smectic LCs