Many liquid crystal materials used in the market for the TN (twisted nematic) liquid crystal displays (LCDs), the STN (super TN) LCDs and the TFT (thin film transistor) addressed LCDs having TN, IPS (in-plane switching), MVA (multidomain vertical alignment) or PSVA (polymer sustained vertical alignment) mode are reviewed. The cases of the development and the industrialization of liquid crystals, in which the author was involved, are also reviewed. Moreover, the relationships between the properties and the chemical structures for the liquid crystal materials are discussed.

Chapter Contents:

• 18.1 Introduction
• 18.2 Liquid crystals for TN LCDs
• 18.2.1 Trend and properties of materials
• 18.2.2 Liquid crystalline ester with strong positive Δ
• 18.3 Liquid crystals for STN LCDs
• 18.3.1 Trend and properties of materials
• 18.3.2 Liquid crystalline tolan
• 18.3.3 Liquid crystalline alkenyl
• 18.3.4 Liquid crystalline azine
• 18.4 Liquid crystals for active matrix LCDs
• 18.4.1 Trend and properties of materials
• 18.4.2 Fluorinated liquid crystals of fused ring systems with positive Δ
• 18.4.3 Fluorinated liquid crystals of fused ring systems with negative Δ
• 18.5 Ultraviolet (UV) curable monomers for PSVA LCDs
• 18.5.1 Trend and properties of materials
• 18.5.2 Three-functional UV curable monomers
• 18.6 Summary
• Acknowledgment
• References

Inspec keywords: polymers; nematic liquid crystals; thin film transistors; liquid crystal displays

Other keywords: polymer sustained vertical alignment; multidomain vertical alignment; STN LCD; supertwisted nematic liquid crystal displays; in-plane switching; TFT; liquid crystal materials; IPS; MVA; thin film transistor; PSVA

Subjects: Other field effect devices; Liquid crystal devices; Display materials