James N. Hall

An integrated low-power high-voltage driving circuit for Digital Micromirror Devices (DMD™)

A Digital Miromirror Device (DMD™) is a micromachined high-density light-modulating system widely used in front projectors, high-definition TVs and digital cinemas. Although the high-speed memory and digital control electronics have long been integrated underneath the micromirror array, high-voltage reset waveforms had been provided separately and synchronized with the DMD chip to actuate the micromirrors. In this work, using drain-extended transistors, the high-voltage driver electronics are successfully integrated on DMDs to generate local reset waveforms having voltage variations up to 30V at a fast slew rate. At fast charging/discharging rates, the transistor reliability requirements are still satisfied and the driver electronics maintain low average current consumption.

An embedded reset driver for digital micromirror devices (DMDs)

— A digital micromirror device (DMD) is a micromachined high-density light-modulating system widely used in front projectors, high-definition TVs, and digital cinemas. Although the high-speed memory and digital control electronics have long been integrated underneath the micromirror array, high-voltage reset waveforms have to be provided separately and synchronized with the DMD chip to actuate the micromirrors. Using drain-extended transistors, the high-voltage driver electronics are successfully integrated on DMDs to generate local reset waveforms having voltage variations up to 30 V at a fast slew rate. At fast-charging/discharging rates, the transistor reliability requirements are still satisfied and the driver electronics maintain low average current consumption.