A robust, repeatable, low-cost lamination process that utilizes pressure-sensitive adhesive (PSA) to directly bond substrates to displays, such as LC, OLED, plasma, and electrophoretic displays, has been developed. These substrates can vary in intent and serve as protective covers, reflection mitigation, heaters, filters, touch screens, environmental barriers, etc. The resultant assembly is very rugged (shock, impact, and vibration resistant), while maximizing optical performance. This paper briefly describes the traditional liquid bonding technologies and compares them to dry-film bonding. A section of the paper focuses on the enhanced optical and environmental performances of dry-film bonded displays. This paper may also serve as a brief review of optical-bonding technologies.

Originally developed for avionics and military displays, Direct‐Dry‐Film (DDF) optical bonding is now moving into industrial and consumer applications such as touch screens, TVs, smartphones, tablets, digital signage, and medical imaging.

Abstract— The gray‐scale and contrast‐viewing‐angle deficiencies of normally white TN‐LCDs must be overcome for the device to be utilized in high‐performance avionics display applications. A compensator that enhances the contrast and gray scale of normally white TN‐LCDs over a wide range of viewing angles is described. The compensator includes a unique biaxial element with an obliquely oriented principal optical axis. The compensator's design, fabrication, modeled performance, and performance measured on an avionics display system are presented.

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Birefringent optical compensators containing layers with substantially inclined optic axes can improve not only the contrast but also the gray scale and chromatic stability of 900twisted nematic LCDs over a large field of view. We present the detailed architecture of such a compensator. It consists of multiple birefringent layers, including one with an in-plane optic axis, one with its optic axis normal to the plane, and two with optic axes inclined at about 400 from the plane. The in-plane and inclined layers are fabricated by photopolymerization of oriented liquid crystal monomers to form anisotropic networks. The precise thicknesses and azimuthal orientations of the various layers are determined by computer optimization. Laboratory measurements of compensated display units show good contrast, gray level, and chromatic stability over a large field of view. The performance is suitable for demanding avionics applications. These compensators are currently being fabricated at the Rockwell Science Center.