Deformable micromirror device

• US 7,990,339 B2
• Filed: 12/26/2007
• Issued: 08/02/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 12/27/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ignite USA (Ignite), Olympus Corporation
• Original Assignee: Olympus Corporation, Silicon Quest Kabushiki-Kaisha
• Inventors: Maeda, Yoshihiro, Arai, Kazuma, Ishii, Fusao
• Primary Examiner(s): OSORIO, RICARDO
• Application Number:
  US12/005,485
• Publication Number:
  US 20080259008A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,315 Days
• Field of Search: 345/32, 345/204, 345 87- 89, 345 98-100, 345/103, 345/84
• US Class Current: 345/32
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 26/0833 the reflecting element being a micromechanical device, e.g. a MEMS mirror, DMD G02B26/0825 takes precedence; micromechanical devices in general B81B
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2300/0842 forming a memory circuit, e.g. a dynamic memory with one capacitor
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2320/0223 Compensation for problems related to R-C delay and attenuation in electrodes of matrix panels, e.g. in gate electrodes or on-substrate video signal electrodes
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 3/2022 using sub-frames
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 3/346 based on modulation of the reflection angle, e.g. micromirrors micromirrors devices per se G02B26/0833
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 9/3123 using pulse width modulation

Abstract

A micromirror device, which makes an image display with digital image data, comprises pixel elements each of which makes pulse width modulation for incident light depending on the deflection state of light and which are arranged in the form of a matrix. Each of the pixel elements has a mirror, and at least one memory cell comprising a transistor and a capacitor. In such a micromirror device, the total value of the propagation delay time of a ROW line, which connects all of transistors of memory cells arranged successively in a ROW direction, and the switching time of each transistor is smaller than the driving interval of the ROW line driven in the minimum display duration of the micromirror device.

Claims

1. A micromirror device for making an image display with digital image data, comprising:

pixel elements, each of which makes pulse width modulation (PWM) for incident light depending on a deflection state of light and which are arranged in a form of a matrix, wherein;

each of said pixel elements has a mirror, and at least one memory cell comprising a transistor and a capacitor; and

a total value of a propagation delay time of a ROW line, which connects all of transistors of memory cells arranged successively in a ROW direction, and a switching time of each transistor is smaller than a driving interval of the ROW line driven in a minimum display duration of the micromirror device.

2. The micromirror device according to claim 1, wherein:

the switching time of each transistor is a total value of a turn-on time and a turn-off time of each transistor.

3. The micromirror device according to claim 1, wherein:

the minimum display duration is a display duration corresponding to a least significant bit (LSB) in a display gray scale of the micromirror device.

4. The micromirror device according to claim 1, wherein:

each of said pixel elements has, as deflection states, an ON state for deflecting incident light to projection optics, and an OFF state for deflecting incident light to a direction different from the projection optics.

5. The micromirror device according to claim 1, comprising:

pixel elements of 1920×

1080 [pixels] or more.

6. The micromirror device according to claim 1, wherein:

a pitch of the mirror is equal to or larger than 4 [μ

m], and equal to or smaller than 10 [μ

m].

7. The micromirror device according to claim 1, wherein:

a wiring material of the ROW line is any of Al, Cu, Au, and Ag, or an alloy containing any of these substances.

8. The micromirror device according to claim 1, wherein:

an inter-layer dielectric film of the ROW line contains any of SiO₂, SiC, SiOC, and SiOF.

9. The micromirror device according to claim 1, wherein:

an inter-layer dielectric film of the ROW line is doped with fluorine (F) or carbon (C).

10. The micromirror device according to claim 1, wherein:

each of said pixel elements has, as deflection states, an ON state for deflecting incident light to projection optics, an OFF state for deflecting incident light to a direction different from the projection optics, and an oscillation state where the mirror oscillates between the ON and the OFF states.

11. The micromirror device according to claim 10, wherein:

the total value of the propagation delay time of the ROW line and the switching time of each transistor is smaller than an oscillation period of the oscillation state of the mirror.

12. A micromirror device for making an image display with digital image data, comprising:

pixel elements, each of which makes pulse width modulation (PWM) for incident light depending on a deflection state of light and which are arranged in a form of an array, wherein;

the array of said pixel elements is composed of B subsets each including pixel elements of M_s (COLUMNs)×

N_s (ROWs) (M_s, N_s and B are natural numbers);

each of said pixel elements has a mirror, and at least one memory cell;

a total value of a propagation delay time of a ROW line, which connects all of transistors of memory cells arranged successively in a ROW direction in each of the subsets, and a switching time of each transistor is smaller than a driving interval of the ROW line driven in a minimum display duration of the micromirror device.

13. The micromirror device according to claim 12, wherein:

the switching time of each transistor is a total value of a turn-on time and a turn-off time of each transistor.

14. The micromirror device according to claim 12, wherein:

the minimum display duration is a display duration corresponding to a least significant bit (LSB) in a display gray scale of the micromirror device.

15. The micromirror device according to claim 12, wherein:

each of said pixel elements has, as deflection states, an ON state for deflecting incident light to projection optics, and an OFF state for deflecting incident light to a direction different from the projection optics.

16. The micromirror device according to claim 12, comprising:

pixel elements of 1920×

1080 [pixels] or more.

17. The micromirror device according to claim 12, wherein:

a pitch of the mirror is equal to or larger than 4 [μ

m], and equal to or smaller than 10 [μ

m].

18. The micromirror device according to claim 12, wherein:

a wiring material of the ROW line is any of Al, Cu, Au, and Ag, or an alloy containing any of these substances.

19. The micromirror device according to claim 12, wherein:

an inter-layer dielectric film of the ROW line contains any of SiO₂, SiC, SiOC, and SiOF.

20. The micromirror device according to claim 12, wherein:

an inter-layer dielectric film of the ROW line is doped with fluorine (F) or carbon (C).

21. The micromirror device according to claim 12, wherein:

each of said pixel elements has, as deflection states, an ON state for deflecting incident light to projection optics, an OFF state for deflecting incident light to a direction different from the projection optics, and an oscillation state where the mirror oscillates between the ON and the OFF states.

22. The micromirror device according to claim 21, wherein:

the total value of the propagation delay time of the ROW line and the switching time of each transistor is smaller than an oscillation period of the oscillation state of the mirror.

23. The micromirror device according to claim 12, further comprising:

at least one ROW line decoder for arbitrarily selecting and driving a ROW line, and

at least one COLUMN line driver for loading image data into each of the memory cells via a COLUMN line.

24. The micromirror device according to claim 12, wherein:

in the B subsets,

a first ROW line decoder and a first COLUMN line driver are connected to a first subset,

a second ROW line decoder and a second COLUMN line driver are connected to a second subset, and

the first and the second subsets are individually controlled so that the image data can be loaded at independent timings.

25. The micromirror device according to claim 12, comprising:

a data selector, wherein

said data selector distributes bit data of image data corresponding to each of the subsets in different order.