A MEMS-based projection display

TLDR

The display industry’s rapid growth has spawned many new technologies, including Texas Instruments’ Digital Micromirror Device (DMD), a microelectromechanical system used in projection displays. The paper presents the Digital Display Engine (DDE), a representative DMD‑based projection display engine. The DDE uses a single 800 × 600 DMD illuminated by a metal‑halide lamp and compact optics, and its design—optics, electronics, and DMD operation, manufacture, and reliability—is tailored for portable and fixed conference‑room graphics and video displays.

Abstract

A period of rapid growth and change in the display industry has recently given rise to many new display technologies. One such technology, the Digital Micromirror Device/sup TM/ (DMD), developed at Texas Instruments, represents a unique application of microelectromechanical systems to the area of projection displays. In this paper, we describe a representative 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/spl times/600 elements, illuminated by a metal halide arc lamp through a compact optics train. The engine is designed for portable and fixed conference-room graphics and video display applications, and many design decisions were made to tailor the engine for its intended venue. The design of the projection engine optics and electronics is discussed, along with the basic operation, manufacture, and reliability of the DMD itself.