We demonstrate a plasma-beam-processed polyimide (PI) surface to effectively align liquid crystal (LC) molecules. The pretilt angles of LCs can be varied between 0 and 3.5, and the PI surface energy can be adjusted by controlling the plasma beam with an energy of 450 eV at an incident angle varying from 0 to 80 with respect to the normal direction of the substrate. Additionally, a method was developed to quickly evaluate the level of anchoring force of LC when compared with a rubbed-aligned LC cell. The performance of this method should be under LC cells with the same alignment materials. (C) 2010 The Electrochemical Society. [DOI: 10.1149/1.3486449] All rights reserved.