Sony (Parkridge, NJ; www.sonystyle.com) recently announced it would introduce four new, low-cost projectors with new, smaller versions of its BrightEra microdisplays. The 0.6-inch devices are part of Sony’s BrightEra family of microdisplays, which, among other things, use an inorganic alignment film to reduce color loss due to prolonged exposure to intense UV light.

Steve Sechrist
Senior Analyst and Editor

Color degradation has been a problem for 3LCD makers, but Sony says it has solved the problem with its the first HTPS (high-temperature poly silicon) chip using an inorganic alignment layer that strengthens the molecular coupling in the alignment film. Epson commercialized a similar panel technology it calls C2FINE back in 2006.

"Inorganic materials reject UV light," said Sander Phipps, Sony’s senior project manager with Sony’s professional display group. But the company gained a whole lot more, Phipps said, by applying development work done with Sony’s brand of LCoS chip technology, SXRD. "We took what Sony learned in developing SXRD and applied it to polysilicon. In a nutshell, SXRD and BrightEra are both inorganic, vertically aligned, and use a field-inversion mode that draws the entire display field at once rather than line by line."

The benefits were clear. "We gained the use of smaller feature sizes to drive more light through the system (higher aperture ratio), improving the lumens/W efficiency by around 20%," Phipps said. The results already are on the market. Sony just launched a 4,000-lumen XGA projector using BrightEra chips and a 230W lamp. This model replaced a Sony 3,500-lumen XGA projector using conventional HTPS chips and a 270W lamp.

Beyond the use of inorganic material in HTPS, Sony also borrowed the idea of a double-speed field-inversion drive system from SXRD. This technology expands the effective aperture area of the LCD device by suppressing the LCD alignment variance caused by voltage differences that formerly occurred between each pixel line.

Sony also borrowed a technology called "normally black mode," which increases contrast by using "the ideal LCD molecule array for black display." This makes it possible to achieve high contrast with the panel alone, unlike conventional methods that required the use of optical compensation elements.

We asked Phipps if he thought BrightEra would help Sony open up other markets in projection. He said Sony expects to see customers migrating to the technology as it buys them more "horsepower" at a lower price point. For example, Phipps said, "with the new 0.6-inch technology we may increase turn-over from SVGA to XGA or even WXGA as these products become more affordable, empowered by BrightEra chips and the ripple effect gained in the entire projector/light-engine design by moving to a smaller die size."

Bottom line: Sony has gained a big win in the traditional 3LCD space by applying fundamental inorganic alignment-film technology from its SXRD LCoS side in order to solve a key UV color-deterioration issue on its HTPS side. The company is now migrating this technology downstream to empower even low-cost projectors like the new EX series based on the 0.6-inch microdisplays. For a more comprehensive review of the BrightEra technology and details on the new products from Sony, see the coming May issue of Large Display Report.

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