Patent ID: 7595091

Claim:
A method of forming a multi-domain alignment layer, the method comprising: forming an alignment layer on a substrate; aligning a mask having a transmission part and a shielding part over the substrate, the mask having a thickness D; and forming a first alignment direction in the alignment layer by irradiating an ion beam onto the substrate at an irradiation angle of θ, wherein the thickness D of the mask is determined by the following equation: D = L 4 ⁢ tan ⁢ ⁢ θ - H , where H is an interval between the mask and the alignment layer, and L is a pixel size; rotating the substrate; aligning and shifting the mask over the substrate; and forming a second alignment direction in the alignment layer by irradiating the ion beam onto the substrate, wherein the mask is shifted to a direction parallel to the substrate in consideration of the thickness of the mask and the irradiation angle of the ion beam.