MEMS-BASED PROJECTION DISPLAY

A period of rapid growth and change in the display industry has recent ly given rise to many new display technologies. One such technology, t he Digital Micromirror Device(TM) (DMD), developed at Texas Instrument s, represents a unique application of microelectromechanical systems t o the area of projection displays. In this paper, we describe a repres entative example of a DMD-based projection display engine, the digital display engine (DDE). The DDE is based on a single-DMD device having array dimensions of 800 x 600 elements, illuminated by a metal halide arc lamp through a compact optics train. The engine is designed for po rtable and fixed conference-room graphics and video display applicatio ns, and many design decisions were made to tailor the engine for its i ntended venue. The design of the projection engine optics and electron ics is discussed, along with the basic operation, manufacture, and rel iability of the DMD itself.