Effects of Form Errors of a Micromirror Surface on the Optical System of the TMATM(Thin-film Micromirror ArrayTM) Projector

The projectors using liquid crystal display(LCD) have faults such as low optical efficiency, low brightness and even heat generation. To solve these problems reflective-type spatial light modulators based on MEMS (Microelectromechanical Systems) technology have emerged. Digital Micromirror DeviceTM(DMDTM), which was already developed by Texas Instruments Inc., and Thin-film Micromirror ArrayTM(TMATM), which has been recently developed by Daewoo Electronics Co., are the representative examples. The display using TMATM has particularly much higher optical efficiency than other projectors. But the micromirrors manufactured by semiconductor processes have inevitable distortion because of the limitations of the manufacturing processes, so that the distortions of their surfaces have great influence on the optical efficiency of the projector. This study investigated the effects of mirror flatness on the optical performance, including the optical efficiency, of the TMATM projector. That is to say, as a part of the efforts to enhance the performance of the TMATM projector, how much influence the form errors of a micromirror surface exert on the optical efficiency and the modulation of gray scale of the projector were analyzed through a pertinent modeling and simulations.