Chronocolor FLC devices for high-resolution projection displays

We describe a single panel SXGA projection display based on active matrix ferroelectric liquid crystal (FLC) technology. The FLC light-modulating layer is placed on top of a reflective CMOS backplane. This geometry effectively takes advantage of the fast switching sped and high resolution possible in a submicron thick layer of FLC and fine design rules available in standard CMOS fabs. The fast FLC switching speed allows both gray scale and color to be generated with time sequential addressing. Current FLC materials are well suited to operation with mainstream 5 volt CMOS processes and offer a clear path to compatibility with newer 3.3 and 2.5 V processes. These lower voltages result in lower power consumption and finer design rules allowing for higher density of on-chip electronics such as MPEG2. The reflective quarter wave plate design of the display affords a large angular acceptance resulting in flexibility of optical design as well as excellent contrast and throughput vs. viewing angle. We describe this color projection display and the high temperature FLC materials and mixtures optimized for them.© (1998) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.