SBIR Phase II: Next Generation Displays Based on Novel Carbon Fiber MEMS Micromirrors

该小型企业创新研究(SBIR)第二阶段项目旨在克服移动设备的小屏幕尺寸限制。基于微电子机械系统(MEMS)微镜的投影技术的使用能够将激光束扫描到嵌入在这些设备中的表面上，为屏幕尺寸问题提供了潜在的解决方案。该项目的最终目标是开发一种微型、节能、低成本、可嵌入的投影系统，能够在距离移动设备较短的距离内投影大的、高分辨率的图像。这项工作将建立在第一阶段项目所做工作的基础上，在第一阶段项目中，建立了实验室规模的系统功能原型(功能原型具有功能，但没有规模或外形因素)。这项拟议的工作将包括对该技术至关重要的两个主要研究项目-S的成功1)开发集成强度调制器的照明模块，2)开发先进的微型微米投影仪原型。该项目更广泛的影响/商业潜力包括改进移动设备领域的技术。随着计算能力和通信带宽的提高，企业用户和消费者越来越依赖移动设备的便利性。这一市场领域正在迅速增长，智能手机和上网本等无线移动设备是计算和互联网接入的主要设备。然而，小于5英寸的对角线显示器的局限性阻碍了移动设备充分发挥其潜力。对越来越小的无线设备的需求(正如后来几代iPod所证明的那样)和对更大屏幕空间的需求是直接冲突的。微微投影仪能够克服移动电子设备中屏幕尺寸的限制，即使尺寸较小也能投射出大图像，这使得嵌入式微微投影仪非常适合空间有限的移动设备。通过扩大显示屏的能力，嵌入式微微投影仪可以释放移动设备的潜力，使其作为主要计算和互联网接入平台的能力更强。这一能力确保了这项拟议的技术在更长的未来将有很高的商业需求。

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project is aimed at overcoming the small screen size limitations of mobile devices. The use of projection technology based on microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) micromirrors capable of scanning laser beams onto surfaces embedded within these devices offers a potential solution to the screen size problem. The end-goal of this project is the development of a tiny, energy efficient, low-cost, embeddable projection system capable of projecting large, high-resolution images at short distances from mobile devices. This effort will build off of work done in the Phase I project, in which a lab-scale functional prototype (a functional prototype has functionality but not scale or form-factor) of the system was built. This proposed effort will consist of two major research thrusts that are critical to the technology?s success 1) Development of an illumination module with integrated intensity modulator, and 2) Development of an advanced, miniaturized, pico-projector prototype.The broader impact/commercial potential of this project includes improving technology in the mobile device field. Business users and consumers are increasingly relying on the convenience of mobile devices as computing power and communication bandwidth improves. This market sector is increasing rapidly, and wireless mobile devices such as smart phones and netbooks are primary devices for computing and Internet access. However, the limitations of a sub-5" diagonal display have prevented mobile devices from achieving their full potential. The demand for ever smaller wireless devices (as witnessed by subsequent generations of the iPod) and the need for more screen real estate are in direct conflict. The capability of pico projectors to overcome screen-size limitations in mobile electronics devices, projecting a large image despite their small size, makes embedded pico projectors a perfect fit for space-constrained mobile devices. Through their ability to enlarge displays, embedded pico projectors can unlock the potential of the mobile device and make them more capable as primary computing and Internet-access platforms. This capability ensures this proposed technology will have high commercial demand for the extended future.