Thin-film Micromirror Array (TMA) for High Luminance and Cost- Competitive Information Display Systems

The thin-film micromirror array (TMA) is a new reflective type spatial light modulator fabricated with the optical microelectromechanical system (MEMS) technology. Micromachined thin-film piezoelectric actuators are used to control the tilt angle of each micromirror, which simply defines the gray scale of the matching screen pixel when it reflects the light for the lamp. The hidden actuator design with the two-sacrificial layer process provides the highest fill factor and flat enough micromirrors resulting the system optical efficiency of 22 percent, which is the highest efficiency among all the reflective and transmissive light modulators in the world at the present time. A working projector prototype of 5,400 true ANSI lumen is realized with three TMA modules and a 1 kW Xenon lamp. TMA projector prototype is brighter than any competing technology projectors in the world at the same lamp power, at least three times or more. The simplicity of the underlying principle and the highest optical efficiency of TMA enables high-brightness and cost competitive projection displays which has been impossible in the past. At the same cost, more brightness can be provided for the high-end large venue projectors. At the same brightness, lower cost products can be provided as desktop projectors for no-more-darkroom digital presentation and affordably priced HDTVs.