EVALUATION EQUIPMENT FOR ORIENTATION MEMBRANE

摘要

PURPOSE:To increase the yield of element by measuring the difference of absorbance between two orthogonal linear polarized infrared rays reflected on the surface of an orientation membrane thereby measuring the orientative ability of a liquid crystal orientation membrane at high sensitivity and accuracy. CONSTITUTION:An infrared ray R emitted from an infrared light source 1 passes through a Michelson interferometer 3 in a Fourier transform infrared spectrometer and then subjected to polarizing modulation by means of a polarizer 5 and a photoelastic modulator 7. The infrared ray R is deflected by a reflection measuring unit 9 to impinge on an orientation membrane substrate at a specific incident angle and in a specific direction with respect to the orientational direction of orientation membrane molecules and reflected to enter into an infrared photodetector 11. The detector 11 is connected with a lock-in amplifier 13 which is controlled synchronously with the modulator 7 by means of a controller 15. Consequently, switching is made quickly between two linear polarizations and the orientation ability of liquid crystal is evaluated based on the difference of absorbance (difference between two infrared colors) between reflected infrared rays determined at a processing section 17.