Silicon light-valve array chip for high-resolution reflective liquid crystal projection displays

A crystalline silicon active-matrix 2048 x 2048-pixel light-valve array chip has been designed and fabricated as part of the development of a reflective liquid crystal technology for projection displays. The small feature processing and higher circuit performance available with crystalline silicon technology were exploited for the design and fabrication of the active-matrix chip. A 10-V CMOS process was developed to satisfy active-matrix pixel-cell requirements. Row-selection circuits were integrated which incorporate redundant data paths. Adjacent-line demultiplexing circuitry was integrated to minimize the number of external data drivers, to minimize the number of connections, and to maximize chip yield. The pixel, row-driver, and data-driver demultiplexing circuit designs and performance are discussed. The testing methods are presented. The chip is 64 mm on a side and is used in a prototype rear-projection color display system. Companion papers describe the system and its additional components incorporated in the prototype display system.