Patent ID: 7557884

Claim:
A bistable liquid crystal device comprising: a first substrate having thereon a first conductive layer and a first alignment layer; a second substrate having thereon a second conductive layer and a second alignment layer; and a liquid crystal layer sandwiched between said first and second alignment layers, said first alignment layer inducing a first pretilt angle θ 1 in the range of 20°-65° between said liquid crystal layer in contact with said first alignment layer, and said second alignment layer inducing a second pretilt angle θ 2 in the range of 20°-65° between said liquid crystal layer in contact with said second alignment layer, said liquid crystal layer being capable of maintaining a stable bend state or a stable splay state at zero bias voltage and being switchable between said stable bend state and said stable splay state when a switching energy is applied in operation to said liquid crystal layer; and at least one of said first and second alignment layers includes a mixture of vertical alignment material and horizontal alignment material.