Method and device for manipulating color in a display

• US 7,911,428 B2
• Filed: 08/19/2005
• Issued: 03/22/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 09/27/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Snaptrack Incorporated (Qualcomm, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm MEMS Technologies Incorporated (Qualcomm, Inc.)
• Inventors: Gally, Brian J., Cummings, William J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Mengistu; Amare
• Assistant Examiner(s): Sharifi; Koosha
• Application Number:
  US11/208,085
• Publication Number:
  US 20060066541A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,041 Days
• Field of Search: 345/84, 345237-324, 345/85, 359237-324
• US Class Current: 345/84
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 26/001 based on interference in an adjustable optical cavity interference filters G02B5/28; devices or arrangements using multiple reflections in spectrometry or monochromators G01J3/26
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 29/49 Method of mechanical manufacture

Abstract

Embodiments include methods and devices for controlling the spectral profile and color gamut of light produced by an interferometric display. Such devices include illuminating a display with selected wavelengths of light. Embodiments also include a display comprising separate sections that output different predetermined colors of light. Other embodiments include methods of making the aforementioned devices.

Claims

1. A display comprising:

at least one color interferometric modulator configured to selectively reflect ambient light having a characteristic color, said modulator having a spectral response characterized by a first spectral peak having a spectral width, wherein said first spectral peak corresponds to said characteristic color; and

at least one color filter having a spectral response characterized by a second spectral peak having a spectral width, said filter configured to transmit at least a portion of incident ambient light to said modulator and to transmit at least a portion of said selectively reflected ambient light to output light characterized by a third spectral peak,

wherein said third spectral peak has a spectral width that is narrower than the spectral width of the first spectral peak and wherein the spectral width of said first spectral peak is the range of wavelengths of said first spectral peak at the full width at half maximum of intensity of said selectively reflected light, the spectral width of said second spectral peak is the range of wavelengths of said second spectral peak at the full width at half maximum of intensity of said spectral response of said color filter and the spectral width of the third spectral peak is the range of wavelengths of said third spectral peak at the full width at half maximum of intensity of said output light.

2. The display of claim 1, wherein said filter comprises an absorptive filter.

3. The display of claim 1, wherein said filter comprises an interference filter.

4. The display of claim 1, wherein said at least one interferometric modulator comprises an interferometric modulator configured to output red light, an interferometric modulator configured to output green light, and an interferometric modulator configured to output blue light, wherein the at least one color filter comprises a red color filter configured to transmit said red light, a green color filter configured to transmit said green light, and a blue color filter configured to transmit said blue light, said transmitted red light, green light, and blue light combining to produce a color.

5. The display of claim 1, wherein the spectral width of the second spectral peak is substantially equal to or narrower than the spectral width of the first spectral peak.

6. The display of claim 1, wherein the spectral width of the third spectral peak is substantially equal to or narrower than the spectral width of the second spectral peak.

20. The display of claim 1, wherein said filter is disposed with respect to a substrate such that said substrate is between said filter and said interferometric modulator.

21. The display of claim 1, wherein said filter is disposed with respect to a substrate such that said filter is between said substrate and said modulator.

22. The method of claim 1, wherein forming said at least one interferometric modulator comprises forming at least two interferometric modulators having different characteristic colors.

23. The display of claim 1, wherein said at least one interferometric modulator comprises a first surface that is partially reflective and partially transmissive and a second surface that is reflective and non-transmissive, wherein said reflective surface is movable with respect to the partially reflective surface.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein said movable reflective surface is associated with a first electrode and said partially reflective surface is associated with a second electrode and wherein said movable reflective surface is configured to be moved in response to a voltage difference applied between the first and second electrodes.

25. The method of claim 23, wherein said movable reflective surface comprises aluminum.

38. The method of claim 1, wherein said at least one interferometric modulator comprises an interferometric modulator configured to output light of a first color, and an interferometric modulator configured to output light of a second color, wherein the at least one color filter comprises a first color filter configured to transmit said first color of light, and a second color filter configured to transmit said second color of light, said transmitted first and second color of light combining to produce a color.

41. The display of claim 1, wherein the display comprises a reflective display.

42. The display of claim 1, wherein the display is configured to form an image by selectively reflecting ambient light by altering the reflective state one or more interferometric modulators.

43. The display of claim 1, wherein said at least one color interferometric modulator is included in an array of display elements comprising interferometric modulators comprising movable reflectors and partial reflectors, said array of display elements being configured to form an image by moving said movable reflectors with respect to said partial reflectors.

44. The display of claim 23, further comprising electronics configured to drive the movable reflective surface such that light reflected by said movable reflective surface and said first partial reflective surface can be modulated so as to form part of an image viewable on a display.

45. The display of claim 24, wherein said at least one color interferometric modulator is included in a plurality of interferometric modulators each configured to receive a respective control voltage across corresponding first and second electrodes to move a movable reflective surface therein, the plurality of interferometric modulators configured to display an image in response to selectively applying one or more control voltages across the first and second electrodes of one or more of the plurality of interferometric modulators.

7. A method of making a display comprising:

forming at least one color interferometric modulator configured to selectively reflect ambient light having a characteristic color, said modulator having a spectral response characterized by a first spectral peak having a spectral width, wherein said first spectral peak corresponds to said characteristic color; and

forming at least one color filter having a spectral response characterized by a second spectral peak having a spectral width, said filter formed so as to transmit at least a portion of incident ambient light to said modulator and so as to transmit at least a portion of said selectively reflected ambient light to output light characterized by a third spectral peak,

wherein said third spectral peak has a spectral width that is substantially equal to or narrower than the spectral width of the first spectral peak and wherein the spectral width of said first spectral peak is the range of wavelengths of said first spectral peak at the full width at half maximum of intensity of said selectively reflected light, the spectral width of said second spectral peak is the range of wavelengths of said second spectral peak at the full width at half maximum of intensity of said spectral response of said color filter and the spectral width of the third spectral peak is the range of wavelengths of said third spectral peak at the full width at half maximum of intensity of said output light.

8. The display of claim 7, wherein said filter comprises an absorptive filter.

9. The display of claim 7, wherein said filter comprises an interference filter.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein said at least one interferometric modulator comprises an interferometric modulator configured to output red light, an interferometric modulator configured to output green light, and an interferometric modulator configured to output blue light, wherein the at least one color filter comprises a red color filter configured to transmit said red light, a green color filter configured to transmit said green light, and a blue color filter configured to transmit said blue light, said transmitted red light, green light, and blue light combining to produce a color.

11. The method of claim 7, wherein said forming of said filter comprises applying a layer of material to a surface of a substrate such that said substrate is between said filter and said interferometric modulator.

12. The method of claim 7, wherein said forming of said filter comprises applying a layer of material on a substrate, said filter being formed between said substrate and said modulator.

13. A display formed by the method of claim 7.

32. The method of claim 7, wherein said filter is formed with respect to a substrate such that said substrate is between said filter and said interferometric modulator.

33. The method of claim 7, wherein said filter is formed with respect to a substrate such that said filter is between said substrate and said modulator.

34. The display of claim 7, wherein said at least one interferometric modulator comprises at least two interferometric modulators having different characteristic colors.

35. The display of claim 7, wherein forming said at least one interferometric modulator comprises forming a first surface that is partially reflective and partially transmissive and a second surface that is reflective and non-transmissive, wherein said second reflective surface is movable with respect to said first surface.

36. The display of claim 35, wherein said movable reflective surface is associated with a first electrode and said partially reflective surface is associated with a second electrode and wherein said movable reflective surface is configured to be moved in response to a voltage difference applied between the first and second electrodes.

37. The display of claim 35, wherein said movable reflective surface comprises aluminum.

39. The method of claim 7, wherein said at least one interferometric modulator comprises an interferometric modulator configured to output light of a first color, and an interferometric modulator configured to output light of a second color, wherein the at least one color filter comprises a first color filter configured to transmit said first color of light, and a second color filter configured to transmit said second color of light, said transmitted first and second color of light combining to produce a color.

46. The method of claim 7, wherein the display comprises a reflective display.

47. The method of claim 7, wherein the display is configured to form an image by selectively reflecting ambient light by altering the reflective state of one or more interferometric modulators.

48. The method of claim 7, wherein said at least one color interferometric modulator is included in an array of display elements comprising interferometric modulators comprising movable reflectors and partial reflectors, said array of display elements being configured to form at least part of an image produced by moving said movable reflectors with respect to said parital reflectors.

49. The method of claim 35, further comprising electronics configured to drive the movable reflective surface such that light reflected by said movable reflective surface and said first partially reflective surface can be modulated so as to form part of an image viewable on a display.

50. The method of claim 36, wherein said at least one color interferometric modulator is included in a plurality of interferometric modulators each configured to receive a respective control voltage across corresponding first and second electrodes to move a movable reflective surface therein, the plurality of interferometric modulators configured to display an image in response to selectively applying one or more control voltages across the first and second electrodes of one or more of the plurality of interferometric modulators.

14. A display comprising:

means for selectively reflecting ambient light having a characteristic color, said means having a spectral response characterized by a first spectral peak having a spectral width, wherein said first spectral peak corresponds to said characteristic color; and

means for selectively filtering and transmitting light, said filtering means having a spectral response characterized by a second spectral peak having a spectral width such that said filtering means transmits colored light when illuminated by white light, said filtering means configured to transmit at least a portion of incident ambient light to said means for selectively reflecting ambient light and to transmit at least a portion of said selectively reflected ambient light to output light characterized by a third spectral peak,

wherein said third spectral peak has a spectral width that is substantially equal to or narrower than the spectral width of the first spectral peak and wherein the spectral width of said first spectral peak is the range of wavelengths of said first spectral peak at the full width at half maximum of intensity of said selectively reflected light, the spectral width of said second spectral peak is the range of wavelengths of said second spectral peak at the full width at half maximum of intensity of said spectral response of said filtering means when illuminated by white light and the spectral width of the third spectral peak is the range of wavelengths of said third spectral peak at the full width at half maximum of intensity of said output light.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein said means for selectively reflecting light comprises at least one interferometric modulator.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein said filtering means comprises means for selectively filtering and transmitting red, green, and blue light.

17. The display of claim 16, wherein said means for selectively reflecting light comprises means for selectively reflecting red light, means for selectively reflecting green light, and means for selectively reflecting blue light wherein said filtering means comprises a red color filter configured to transmit said red light, a green color filter configured to transmit said green light, and a blue color filter configured to transmit said blue light, said transmitted red light, green light, and blue light combining to produce a color.

18. The method of claim 14, wherein said filter comprises an absorptive filter.

19. The method of claim 14, wherein said filter comprises an interference filter.

26. The display of claim 14, wherein said filtering means is disposed with respect to a substrate such that said substrate is between said filtering means and said means for selectively reflecting light.

27. The display of claim 14, wherein said filtering means is disposed with respect to a substrate such that said filtering means is between said substrate and said means for selectively reflecting light.

28. The method of claim 15, wherein forming said at least one interferometric modulator comprises forming at least two interferometric modulators having different characteristic colors.

29. The display of claim 14, wherein said means for selectively reflecting light comprises a first surface that is partially reflective and partially transmissive and a second surface that is reflective and non-transmissive, wherein said second surface is movable with respect to said first surface.

30. The display of claim 29, wherein said movable reflective surface is associated with a first electrode and said partially reflective surface is associated with a second electrode and wherein said movable reflective surface is configured to be moved in response to a voltage difference applied between the first and second electrodes.

31. The display of claim 29, wherein said movable reflective surface comprises aluminum.

40. The display of claim 14, wherein said selectively reflecting means comprises an interferometric modulator configured to output light of a first color, and an interferometric modulator configured to output light of a second color, wherein said filtering means comprises a first color filter configured to transmit said first color of light, and a second color filter configured to transmit said second color of light, said transmitted first and second color of light combining to produce a color.

51. The display of claim 14, wherein the display comprises a reflective display.

52. The display of claim 14, wherein the display is configured to form an image by selectively reflecting ambient light by altering the reflecting state of said means for selectively reflecting light.

53. The display of claim 29, further comprising electronics configured to drive the movable reflective surface such that light reflected by said movable reflective surface and said first partially reflective surface can be modulated so as to form part of an image viewable on a display.

54. The display of claim 30, wherein said means for selectively reflecting ambient light is included in a plurality of interferometric modulators each configured to receive a respective control voltage across corresponding first and second electrodes to move a movable reflective surface therein, the plurality of interferometric modulators configured to display an image in response to selectively applying one or more control voltages across the respective first and second electrodes of one or more of the plurality of interferometric modulators.