On Sun, Mar 14, 2010 at 1:22 AM, Jeremy Lee wrote: > You can get ITO coated microscope slides fairly cheaply and in quantity > from various lab/medical supply houses. They're used to heat the slides > when studying little critters that don't like the cold, or to watch > heat-activated chemical reactions. Thanks! I also found that a lot of Low-E glass is metalization, often using ITO. This is available from window suppliers. I agree that a simple mask then etch system should work fine for removing the metal you don't want. > As for making liquid crystal... haven't checked into it for a while, but > there was supposed to be a version made from soap and isopropyl alcohol. > Probably has a very poor polarization coefficient, but remember that most > liquid crystal solutions are often quite nasty and poisonous organic > chemicals, and not the kind of stuff you want to be handling without > serious lab safety. Any organic chemists on list? I found instructions for creating temperature sensitive liquid crystal, but haven't found how to make nematic (electric field sensitive) liquid crystal. Some reference that I don't have at hand indicated that several companies manufacture it, and often LCD manufacturers will request specific formulas with 12 or more compounds for various traits, including contrast, speed, etc. -Adam -- http://chiphacker.com/ - EE Q&A site -- http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist