Lcos Microdisplay Buy __LINK__
LCoS microdisplays are particularly appealing for near-eye displays (NEDs) due to their high resolution, visual clarity, reduced energy use, and compact size. Interest in LCoS has been strong in the AR/VR industry, with consideration of both intensity-modulated and holographic-image-generation approaches.9 Projection-based systems such as automotive HUDs can also take advantage of the various benefits of LCoS.
lcos microdisplay buy
In his recent podcast episode, AR/VR optical expert Karl Guttag said that various sources have confirmed the acquisition of Compounds Photonics, a Micro LED/LCOS solution provider in the US, by Snap (parent company of Snapchat). He also presumed that Snap plans to adopt LCOS technology in its AR glasses. Founded in 2007, Compound Photonics specializes in providing compact high-resolution microdisplay solutions for AR and MR scenarios. The company offers products and services including Micro LED/LCOS displays, optical engine reference designs and microdisplay development kits. The solution provider has launched a 0.34-inch LCOS microdisplay lineup, the CP2K234, featuring 3.015μm pixels, a 20482048 resolution, 1:1 aspect ratio and retina resolution (60 pixels/degree) when combined with its 50 wide field-of-view waveguides.
Much like a fingerprint, each LCOS microdisplay made by different companies is made differently. While the HX7309 image is cropped from a much larger picture and as a result low in resolution, I was able to clearly identify at least 5 distinctive features in common between the device in the teardown image and in the known Himax panel. I have labeled these in the comparison photo below:
Liquid crystal on silicon (LCoS or LCOS) is a miniaturized reflective active-matrix liquid-crystal display or "microdisplay" using a liquid crystal layer on top of a silicon backplane. It is also referred to as a spatial light modulator. LCoS was initially developed for projection televisions but is now used for wavelength selective switching, structured illumination, near-eye displays and optical pulse shaping. By way of comparison, some LCD projectors use transmissive LCD, allowing light to pass through the liquid crystal.
LCos (Liquid Crystal on Silicon) display technology is a type of microdisplay that has gained popularity due to its high image quality and ability to display high-resolution images. LCos display systems typically consist of three main components: the LCos panel, the light source, and the optical system.
The unique optical properties of lasers combined with small-pixel liquid-crystal-on-silicon technology and digital-light-processing microdisplays are enabling small, highly efficient picoprojectors with high resolution and focus-free operation. The laser beam is optically expanded to illuminate the full pixel array of the microdisplay and then the image is optically magnified.
Picoprojectors use lasers in two ways: laser beam steering (LBS) or laser illumination of microdisplay spatial light modulators (see www.laserfocusworld.com/articles/314431). With LBS, either a single bidirectional or two unidirectional mirrors are used to sweep a laser beam that is about one pixel wide. In the case of microdisplays, a two-dimensional array of pixel mirrors modulates the laser light for each pixel.
A typical small LCOS pixel mirror has a 5.4 µm pitch (from center to center) with 0.29 µm spacing and a 93% fill factor, and is about half the area of the smallest DLP pixels with about a 7.56 µm pitch and 0.29 µm spacing with a 90% fill factor (see Fig. 2). Smaller pixels and smaller gaps between pixels are important for supporting small yet high-resolution microdisplays.
Decreasing the pixel size allows the resolution to increase while maintaining a small form factor with microdisplays is to. With LCOS there is still considerable scaling that can be done by taking advantage of currently available CMOS processes to enable 720 pixel (720P) and 1080P "HD" resolutions.
To meet the size and cost requirements for a picoprojector microdisplay, field-sequential color (FSC) is used wherein a single full-color image is shown as a sequence of color fields. As each color field is imaged by the microdisplay, the corresponding color laser is turned on. DLP is well known for using FSC, which requires a light modulator with a rapid response to provide rich, saturated colors. Field-sequential-color LCOS microdisplays utilize smaller cell gaps between the top glass and mirror, as well as high-speed LC formulas that are 10 to 50 times faster than the LC used in typical direct-view LC displays (LCDs).
Perhaps the most misunderstood capability of laser-illuminated microdisplays is that, because of the optical properties of the laser light, they can be focus-free even though they use a projection lens. Even after the laser beam has been expanded and despeckled (if necessary) the resultant light illuminating the microdisplay has a very high f-number (low angular divergence) that does not require focusing. With laser illumination, the image will be well focused from very short distances to infinity (see Fig. 3).
Laser light also enables smaller microdisplays because today the active area of microdisplays is made bigger in order to help collect light from light-emitting diodes (LEDs). With laser light, essentially all of the light can be collected regardless of the display size. As a result, very small pixel microdisplays benefit from using laser light.
Liquid-crystal-on-silicon devices work by changing the polarization of light and thus require polarized light illumination. Most lasers naturally generate highly polarized light, which improves their efficiency compared to LEDs when used with LCOS microdisplays.
Laser illumination of microdisplays can also use slower-switching continuous-wave (CW) lasers that are generally more energy efficient, more widely available, and lower in cost (particularly for green) than the high-speed switching lasers required for LBS.
Over 20 lumens/W has already been achieved with a laser LCOS projector that has 100 lumens with 5 W of power.1 With the expected improvement in lasers, LCOS devices, and optics, over 30 lumens/W is expected in the very near future with laser microdisplay systems.
For a microdisplay-based laser projector with a pure FSC system, the lasers will be sequentially turned on; however, it is also possible to have two or all three of the lasers on at the same time for some mixed color fields (see Fig. 4).
Dichroic filters are used to combine the red, green, and blue light. There is some form of despeckle and beam-shaping optics in the setup, although this varies in each design. Next, the laser beam enters the optical path where the beam is expanded and converted from a typical Gaussian profile into a more flat profile for illuminating the microdisplay.
In the case of LCOS, a beamsplitter directs the polarized light from the lasers to the microdisplay. A polarizing beamsplitter will reflect one polarization of light and pass the other. Each pixel/mirror/electrode of the LCOS microdisplay controls the LC over that pixel to change the polarization of the light for each pixel that is nonblack so that some or all of it (depending on the intensity) will pass through the beamsplitter after it reflects off a given pixel's mirror. The light out of the beamsplitter then goes to the projection lens that expands the resultant image for viewing.
One of the major benefits of laser light is that the projection lens and the rest of the optics, including the microdisplay, can be made smaller and simpler and yet still have very high efficiency. Laser-microdisplay optical engines can be made as small as 3 to 4 cm3 in volume.
Laser-microdisplay systems have an important advantage over LBS for eye safety, another major concern for lasers. Whereas LBS requires that the laser light remain a single-pixel-size beam, in a laser-microdisplay system the laser beam is first spread out over the area of the panel and then the projection lens further spreads the light. This reduces the light density at any given point and allows laser-microdisplay systems to reach higher projected brightness levels within the limits of international safety standards.
The applications for laser-LCOS picoprojectors are boundless. The most obvious will be in very small and energy-efficient projectors for embedding in cell phones, still and video cameras, and in media players. Less obvious applications include automotive displays and digital signage. Syndiant laser-microdisplay picoprojectors for consumers started shipping in the latter part of 2009 and are expected to go into high-volume production in late 2010.
Timothy Rost brings over 16 years of startup experience in semiconductors and consumer electronics. Heading the U.S. operations and responsible for research and development of microdisplay products, he has led software engineering at Syndiant since 2006. Mr. Rost is also an expert on colorimetry and display calibration, and previously handled all IC physical verification for TestChip Technologies. Rost earned his MS in Informatics at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, and BS in Electrical Engineering and BA in Economics from The University of Texas at Austin.
Dr. Ong brings to Syndiant more than 30 years of technology and product R&D experience in microdisplays and direct-view LCDs. Dr. Ong invented the wide-viewing angle TN/LCD using compensation films, MVA using protrusion geometry, and simple MVA with no protrusions and no ITO slits. These three technologies are widely used in LCD industry. He has also made significant contributions to microdisplays, LCD optical modeling and characterization, and color sequential LCD technology. His previous employment includes 16 years at Taiwan Kyoritsu Optronics as President, 16 years at Kopin Corp as Chief LCD Technologist and VP Asia Division, 10 years at IBM as Research Staff Member, and Assistant VP at Taiwan E Ink Holdings Inc. and Quanta Display Inc. He is a named inventor on 77 issued patents, published 98 papers, delivered 47 invited talks and co-edited a book on LCD technology. He served as Taiwan ITRI LCD Technical Advisory Council member, SID Mid-Atlantic Chapter Chair, SID Seminar Chair and Award Chair, USDC Technical Council Member and LC Project Chair. Dr. Ong received 4 IBM Awards, the Glenn Brown Award for Outstanding Liquid Crystals Ph.D. Thesis, the SID Special Recognition and Fellow Awards, and the Taiwan Ministry of Economy Affairs Industrial Advanced Technology Innovator Award. Dr. Ong earned his BSc in physics and mathematics at Nanyang University in Singapore and his Ph.D. in physics at Brandeis University. 041b061a72