Pixtronix digital micro-shutter display technology: a MEMS display for low power mobile multimedia displays

The Pixtronix display technology eliminates the traditional power consumption / performance trade-off, delivering 145% NTSC color gamut (CIE 1976), 24-bit color, 1,000:1 contrast ratio and 170° view angles, all at one quarter the power consumption of competing TFT-LCDs. At the heart of this technology is a MEMS-based Digital Micro Shutter device that enables the low power, high speed light modulation in the Pixtronix displays. The Digital Micro Shutter is a laterally translating element, which is supported on a patented dual compliant actuator. Each pixel has one shutter, which is used to show all colors in a Field Sequential Color, Time Division Multiplexed driving scheme. The pixel has been demonstrated over a density range of 100 PPI to 300 PPI. The Digital Micro Shutter also supports an optical recycling approach through which 60% of the light from the backlight becomes available to the viewer - compared to less than 8% efficiency in liquid crystal based displays. This paper highlights some of the design innovations and corresponding display results achieved in the Pixtronix Digital Micro Shutter technology.