SBIR Phase II: MatchBox Display Systems

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project, matchbox projection systems, addresses a major opportunity in the multi-billion dollar projection display market. The main goal for the phase II project is to develop a Matchbox projector based on one liquid crystal on silicon (LCOS) panel using the field sequential color (FSC) method. The development includes the fabrication of full custom and mixed signal integrated circuit (IC), LCOS panel, optical light engine, and mechanical assembly. The silicon backplane will contain 1280 x 768 frame buffer pixels that remove charge sharing and charge inducement noise, increase charge storage memory time, enhance display brightness, and increase image contrast ratio. The data loading will use frame-at-a-time approach, allowing an image to be displayed at full contrast while the next image is buffered onto the backplane. LCOS panel assembly process will be developed for implementing panels with high thickness uniformity, high contrast ratio, fast switching, and high reliability. The optical engine design will focus on compact FSC system. The display market is multi-billion dollar market with a wide range of products. The commercial and military markets rely on highly specialized display products such as microscope and head mount displays. The LCOS system hopes to enable low power, high-resolution products in the market place.