Microdisplays could soon be embedded in smartphones, allowing anyone to share content on just about any kind of screen.
Imagine you’re on a camping trip with your family, and your kids are bored. They want to watch a movie, but you forgot your laptop at home. Hopeless? Not at all.
You pull out your fifth-generation iPhone–yes, this is a story about future technology–power it up, aim it at the wall of the tent, and start projecting their favorite film there.
This is one of the many potential promises of a new microdisplay technology from Displaytech, a recently acquired division of Boise-based Micron. Known as FLCOS, or fast liquid crystal on silicon, the technology is designed to make it possible to project from a relatively small form factor device, and with high image quality and vibrant colors, just about anything you’d want, be it a Disney flick or a complex PowerPoint presentation.
The idea behind the technology is that FLCOS microdisplays can mix color over time, blending reds, greens, and blues in very quick sequence, explained Eric Boles, Micron’s director of marketing services. The human eye turns such color mixing into full color, meaning that FLCOS obviates any kind of color filtering.
Right now, the projection engine behind the technology is about an inch-and-a-half long and very power efficient, Boles said. Just 1.1 watts can produce 10 lumens.
For now, no mobile phone makers have gotten on board with Micron’s microdisplay technology, in part because the chips may still be too expensive, and because smartphones may not yet have the power to allocate to something like FLCOS. But because the projection technology is on a chip, it is likely to follow the traditional silicon curves, Boles said, meaning that the chips will probably get smaller, faster and cheaper quickly.
The market will likely make it possible for Micron’s technology to begin being embedded in smartphones by late 2010 or early 2011, the company said. (Credit: Daniel Terdiman)
Other exciting advances–before the microdisplay technology makes its way to the iPhone–could include adding wireless to the device so that it can retrieve content without having to be physically tethered to the content source.
There are, of course, other companies working on similar products, but the folks at Micron think they’re onto a special approach to tiny projectors because the microdisplays are all-digital. And that means that Micron may be the only company able to embed such technology on a chip.
During my visit we discussed the idea that there is simply no end to the possible applications for the microdisplay technology. But as the Micron folks went through their presentation, it seemed that there was one constant: Each time they talked about a new potential use for it, my reaction was–and I suspect many people’s would be–”When can I get that?”
