A High-Resolution Light-Crystal-on-Silicon SXGA Projection Display

Abstract

We have developed a highly integrated liquid-crystal-on-silicon light valve for three-panel color projector. The silicon panel was designed and fabricated by a 0.35μm, 3-metal and dual-voltage CMOS process with a spatial resolution of 1280 × 1024 pixels. The pixel pitch was 12μm, the fill factor was 90% and the display area was 0.77" in diagonal. The silicon panel was assembled with a mixed twisted nematic and birefringence liquid crystal cell. Contrast ratio was typically 200:1 at 5.5Vrms. The optical sub-system utilized a trichroic prism assembly incorporating three silicon light valves for both color separation and recombination. A compact and high-contrast SXGA video projector was demonstrated.