Liquid crystal display (LCD) and plasma display (PD) are rapidly replacing cathode-ray-tube (CRT) display due to their substantially reduced panel depth compared to CRT. However, both LCD and PD are relatively inefficient in energy use and inflexible in their physical structure. For example, LCD uses polarizer that reduces light intensity by fifty percent, while PD consumes significantly more power per lumen than LCD. There exist a number of disclosures and publications on using micro-electro-mechanical (MEM) devices for display applications. Some MEM based displays, such as DLP from Texas Instruments, is useful for projection systems but difficult to be applied to flat panel displays. Various other proposed MEM devices have their own difficulties, including performance, manufacturability, and reliability issues that prevent them from becoming commercial use. Needs exist for flat panel displays and portable displays having both performance (e.g., high energy efficiency, high contrast ratio, physically flexible for improved portability) and low cost advantages.