David Armitage & Ian Underwood 
Introduction to Microdisplays 

Microdisplays are tiny, high-resolution electronic displays,
designed for use in magnifying optical systems such as HDTV
projectors and near-eye personal viewers. As a result of research
and development into this field, Microdisplays are
incorporated in a variety of visual electronics, notably new 3G
portable communications devices, digital camera technologies,
wireless internet applications, portable DVD viewers and wearable
PCs.



Introduction to Microdisplays encapsulates this market
through describing in detail the theory, structure, fabrication and
applications of Microdisplays. In particular this book:

* Provides excellent reference material for the Microdisplay
industry through including an overview of current applications
alongside a guide to future developments in the field

* Covers all current technologies and devices such as Silicon
Wafer Backplane Technology, Liquid Crystal Devices, Micromechanical
Devices, and the emerging area of Organic Light Emitting
Diodes

* Presents guidance on the design of applications of
Microdisplays, including Microdisplays for defence and telecoms,
from basic principles through to their performance limitations



Introduction to Microdisplays is a thorough and
comprehensive reference on this emerging topic. It is essential
reading for display technology manufacturers, developers, and
system integrators, as well as practising electrical engineers,
physicists, chemists and specialists in the display field. Graduate
students, researchers, and developers working in optics, material
science, and telecommunications will also find this a valuable
resource.



The Society for Information Display (SID) is an international
society, which has the aim of encouraging the development of all
aspects of the field of information display. Complementary to the
aims of the society, the Wiley-SID series is intended to explain
the latest developments in information display technology at a
professional level. The broad scope of the series addresses all
facets of information displays from technical aspects through
systems and prototypes to standards and ergonomics

Table of Content

Series Editor’s Foreword.

Preface.

1. Introduction.

1.1 Microdisplays.

1.2 Human Factors.

1.3 Display Specifications.

1.4 Displays in General.

1.5 Microdisplay Evolution.

1.6 Microdisplay Applications.

2 Electronic Addressing.

2.1 Introduction.

2.2 MOS Transistor.

2.3 LCOS System Electronics Architecture.

2.4 Analogue Pixel Drive Schemes for Analogue Electro-Optic Response.

2.5 Digital Electronic Drive Schemes for Analog Electro-Optical Response.

2.6 Digital Pixel Drive Schemes for Binary Electro-Optical Response.

2.7 DMD Microdisplay Circuit.

2.8 OLED Microdisplay Circuits.

2.9 Photo-Addressing.

3 Silicon Backplane Technology.

3.1 Introduction.

3.2 CMOS Technology.

3.3 CMOS for microdisplays.

3.4 Wafer and die bow.

3.5 Surface planarization.

3.6 Pixel storage.

3.7 Light blocking.

3.8 Mirror quality.

3.9 Pixel gap fill.

3.10 LC Cell gap.

3.11 LCo S CMOS summary.

3.12 Backplane technology for other microdisplays.

3.13 Silicon Technology Roadmap.

3.14 Cost of silicon.

3.15 Summary.

4 Transmission Microdisplays Structure.

4.1 Background.

4.2 Thin film transistors.

4.3 Polysilicon.

4.4 Polysilicon microdisplay.

4.5 Transferred silicon.

4.6 Silicon-on-sapphire.

5 Transmission Liquid Crystal Microdisplays.

5.1 Introduction.

5.2 TFT-LCD.

5.3 Projection System.

5.4 Twisted-Nematic Cells.

5.5 Vertically-Aligned Nematic (VAN) Cells.

5.6 Fringing Field Effect.

5.7 Liquid crystal ionic effects.

6 Reflective Liquid Crystal Microdisplays.

6.1 Introduction.

6.2 Normally Black Homeotropic Cell.

6.3 Normally White Homogenous Cell.

6.4 Reflective TN Cells.

6.5 Normally White 90¯o MTN Cell.

6.6 Normally White 63.6¯o MTN Cell.

6.7 Normally Black 63.6¯o TN Cell.

6.8 Normally White 60¯o MTN Cell.

6.9 Normally White 45¯o MTN Cell.

6.10 Normally Black 45¯o TN.

6.11 Finger-On-Plane Structure.

6.12 Scattering and Diffractive Microdisplays.

6.13 Ferroelectric Liquid Crystals.

7 LCD Assembly and Test.

7.1 Background.

7.2 Back end processing.

7.3 Assembly components.

7.4 Assembly methods.

7.5 Test.

8 Micromechanical Devices.

8.1 Background.

8.2 Digital Mirror Device.

8.3 Piezoelectric Micromirror.

8.4 Grating Light Valve.

8.5 Interference modulation.

8.6 Further development.

9 Emissive Microdisplays.

9.1 Introduction.

9.2 Organic Emissive Materials.

9.3 Device Construction & Manufacture.

9.4 Device Characteristics.

9.5 Color.

9.6 OLED Microdisplays.

9.7 Other Emissive Microdisplays.

9.8 Summary.

10 Projection Displays.

10.1 Background.

10.2 Throughput.

10.3 Laser and LED sources.

10.4 Arc Lamps.

10.5 Polarizing Optics.

10.6 Color management.

10.7 Schlieren projector.

10.8 Laser scanning.

10.9 Projector Performance.

11 Near-Eye Systems.

11.1 Background.

11.2 Magnification.

11.3 Field of View.

11.4 Microdisplay Factors.

11.5 Magnifiers.

11.6 Camera Viewfinder.

11.7 Head mounted displays.

11.8 Free-surface prisms.

11.9 Eyewear-based displays.

11.10 Light-guide System.

11.11 Wide field of view.

11.12 Portable Equipment.

Table of Symbols.

About the author

David Armitage, Consultant, Los Altos, CA94024, USA

Dr Ian Underwood, Reader, Dept of Electrical Engineering, The University of Edinburgh, King’s Buildings, Mayfield Road, Edinburgh EH9 3JL, Scotland

Dr Shin-Tson Wu, Provost Professor of Optics, University of Central Florida, School of Optics – CREOL, 4000 Central Florida Boulevard PO Box 162700, Orlando, Florida 32816-2700, USA