Vertically aligned displays

Vertical alignment display A liquid crystal display in which the liquid crystal molecules are aligned perpendicular to the plane of the screen (homeotropic alignment). 

Figure 4.S7. SEM images of an electroluminescent phosphor particle, ZnS (used in backhght displays for cell phones, watches, etc.), before (a) and after (b) the deposition of an aluminum oxide thin film. This film is a transparent coating that prevents the phosphor particle from undergoing humidity-accelerated decay. A technique known asfluidized-bed CVD was used, where a carrier gas both delivered the precursors to a vertically aligned CVD chamber, and dispersed the powdery sample in order to expose all surface regions to the precursor vapors.

This effect was attributed to the hydrophobic property of PAN (WCA 100° for a smooth surface) and, more importantly, to the nanometer scale grass -like surface structures that formed. The same method was used to make a PVA surface that also displayed a WCA larger than 170° [58], In the case of PVA, which is a relatively hydrophilic material, the high contact angle was attributed to a reorganization of PVA molecules at the air-fiber interface, where the -CH2- groups were predominantly present. A similar method was used to make a superhydrophobic surface from PS [59]. Vertically aligned carbon nanotubes [32, 60] or nanoposts [61] also form superhydrophobic surfaces with surface hydrophobization. 

In display technology the homeotropic anchoring is often called vertical alignment. 

M. F. Schiekel and K. Fahrenschon, Multicolor Matrix Displays Based on Deformation of Vertically Aligned Nematic Liquid Crystal Phases, Digest 1972 Soc. for Information Display International Symp., San Francisco, Calif., p. 98. 

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