Micron have announced the addition of a wide-screen quarter VGA (WQVGA) microdisplay to their established microdisplay projection panel line (via Displaytech Inc.) including QVGA, VGA, SVGA and WVGA panels. This product will find applications in the rapidly growing market for portable video and image projection applications for products including pico projectors, cell phone projectors and head-mounted displays (HUD).

The new WQVGA microdisplay shows Micron is following up its astuteness in acquiring microdisplay technology through their purchase of Displaytech Inc. They have the right technology at the right time for a promising market. As significantly more devices have integrated photo and capture and/or download capabilities there is demand for the integration of pico projection technologies to free consumers of the tiny displays typical of mobile multimedia devices. Its still early days for this market though with many possible applications just being considered or awaiting to be envisioned. See the TED video “Six Sense” below to gain an inkling of what revolutionary applications are possible.

Most interesting about Micron’s ferroelectric liquid crystal on silicon (FLCOS) technology is claimed advantages over conventional LCoS and other competing technologies including laser scanning, and micromirror.

Fast Switching Speed up to 100x faster than traditional LCOS technology. This importantly allows the use of field sequential color versus traditional LCOS spatial color.

Sequential color is the creation of color by combining red, green, and blue (RGB) hues within a single pixel, instead of having separate RGB sub-pixels as in conventional spatial color. You can see the difference clearly in the image below between the FLCOS sequential color (top left) and LCOS spatial color surrounding. One can see how sequential color looks more like a photo even at high magnification with truer colors and sharp edges (excellent for displaying text). See the video below for more detailed explanation of just how FLCOS works.

Low Power Consumption is essential for mobile devices relying on battery life. FLCOS microdisplays deliver with a meager 85 milliwatt power draw.

Micron intend to apply their strong R&D resources to further extending FLCOS microdisplay technology. It’s a display technology well worth keeping an eye out for in pico projection products.

FLCOS Technology Flyer (pdf)

Press Release

FLCOS Microdisplay Technology

TED Video – Sixth Sense