Micron intros new single-chip microdisplay panel

SID Display Week 2009 Booth #253, BOISE, USA: Micron Technology Inc. has introduced a new microdisplay panel, leveraging technology it recently acquired from Displaytech, Inc.

The introduction of the new microdisplay panel is part of Micron’s broader strategy of delivering differentiated products that leverage its expertise in semiconductor research and design.

The new panel Micron announced is a wide-screen quarter VGA (WQVGA) microdisplay solution designed to enable portable video and image projection for applications including head-mounted display products and embedded cell phone projectors.

At the heart of the new WQVGA panel is ferroelectric liquid crystal on silicon (FLCOS) technology, which delivers superior image quality and color fidelity when compared to competing microdisplay technologies -– all in a single, tiny package with minimal power requirements.

“The FLCOS microdisplay technology that Micron has acquired from Displaytech has demonstrated success in the market, clearly evident by the fact that more than 21 million panels have shipped in portable consumer electronic products. With Micron now delivering this technology, we are well-positioned to provide our customer base with global support and an even stronger R&D platform to further extend FLCOS microdisplay technology,” said Abid Ahmad, director of Micron’s silicon and systems group.

The WQVGA panel is an integrated solution, incorporating the display panel and control circuitry in a compact all-in-one package. Consuming only 85 milliwatts, the product is low in power, ideal for applications where portability and battery life is most critical. The product adds to Micron’s Displaytech FLCOS microdisplay projection panel line, which includes QVGA, VGA, SVGA and WVGA panels.

As more and more devices integrate capabilities to download images and videos, demand is growing for display technologies to enable consumers to easily view the content they have captured.

A key design challenge for consumer electronics manufacturers is creating a solution that is small enough to fit into today’s ever-shrinking products with minimal power requirements while providing the image size that consumers demand. FLCOS-enabled projection is the leading display technology that can deliver on all of these requirements.

“Size, power and image quality are the leading design criteria for microdisplay panels in portable applications, all of which Micron can provide with its portfolio of FLCOS solutions,” said Bruce Spenner, director of microdisplay marketing for Micron.

The distinguishing advantage of FLCOS microdisplay technology is its fast switching speed which is up to 100x faster than traditional LCOS technology. The switching speed is important for using field sequential color, which, unlike color filtering, produces full color on each individual pixel, blending color by very rapidly integrating red, green and blue frames in sequence.

Additionally, when compared to micromirror technology, FLCOS display technology allows for a fully integrated microdisplay solution, combining the display panel, memory, image processing and light driver control into one chip. By not requiring companion devices, board footprint and power requirements are significantly reduced.