Joined: 16 Mar 2004 |Posted: Mon Nov 27, 2006 11:42 am Post
subject: High-Definition TV from your Cell Phone |New MEMS
technology could lead to dime-sized, high-resolution projectors.
A silicon mirror suspended by carbon fibers can vibrate very
quickly, scanning a laser across a surface fast enough to draw
high-resolution images. A cell phone that can project a high-
definition television image could soon be possible, say
researchers at Cornell University who have developed a new
microelectromechanical system (MEMS) for rapidly scanning wide
areas with a laser. A projector based on the device would be
about the size of dime and could cast a meter-wide image on a
surface only half a meter away. The key is a small mirror, about
half a millimeter across, suspended by carbon fibers -- rolled-
up sheets of crystalline carbon commonly used to reinforce
materials. The fibers amplify the vibrations of a piezoelectric
motor, moving the mirror. This movement deflects a laser at
different angles, causing it to sweep back