Jeff Marsh sees himself as a "master of tricks". He is the DLP® product engineering design manager of Texas Instruments (TI), supervising and inspecting every step of DLP chip production.
"I have to deal with many unique challenges at the same time," Jeff said, "but after working at TI for 20 years, what I do now is fairly handy."
"Handy" may be a humble statement.
Since Dr. Larry Hornbeck invented the first DLP chip in 1987, the new version of the DLP semiconductor chip has been widely used. The invention of the Digital Micromirror Device (DMD) itself revolutionized the film industry, winning Dr. Hornbeck the Academy Award * for the DMD he invented for use in TI DLP Cinema® projection.
DLP technology also enables today's industrial high-speed 3D printers and handheld near-infrared (NIR) spectrum analyzers, driving the development of head-up display (HUD) solutions in the automotive industry, and opening up such as head-mounted or wearable displays And other small-scale applications.
The core of the application of these products is DMD, which is covered with millions of microchips of micromirrors that control and reflect light.
Chip-based or non-chip-based?Creating a brand new DLP chip from the beginning is a process of continuous improvement and innovation, and the source is a core question: what kind of business needs does it serve?
"Equipment manufacturers are keen to integrate DLP chips into all devices-from super mobile displays to high-resolution ultraviolet (UV) 3D printers, so our understanding of customer needs becomes very important," Jeff said, "we must Know what functions the product needs to be able to implement and what features our chip designers and engineers must include in their products in order to meet these requirements. "
Just like a complex puzzle, before a viable chip can be designed and finally mass-produced, certain characteristics must be determined, such as size, cost, and resolution.
Perhaps it is the way we manufacture chips that makes our DLP chips so special and bears a very deep TI imprint. As Jeff easily confirmed, this is a unique recipe in the field of semiconductor engineering.
"I'm often asked 'How exactly do you put these micromirrors on this device?'" He said, "some people may think that we use tweezers to mechanically assemble them on the device, or with the help of a microscope Use a robot for assembly-but sorry, not at all. "
All DLP chips start with a standard complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) wafer. These wafers form an array of memory cells, and they will ultimately determine how and when the micromirrors tilt.
Only after that was the exclusive "magic"-"We built a structure on the storage unit, but our construction method is to use a series of metal coating, etching and lithography to build a 3D micromirror array," Jeff said. "So, although we are using standard semiconductor equipment and processing techniques, our operating methods are superior to traditional methods of use, which allows us to be different."
The journey of chip manufacturing continuesAfter a long journey of development, design and testing, the next step is to manufacture. But this is not the end. Jeff said that he and his team still maintain their vitality to help customers solve possible challenges or problems in the use of the new DLP chip.
"We always monitor performance during assembly and monitor output to ensure that we deliver the products our customers need to them." Jeff said.
In addition, whether it is lower power consumption, higher brightness, improved resolution, or smaller package, to promote innovation, all of these processes to create new DLP chips, meet new customer needs, and find new potential applications will be Never stop.
* Dr. Larry HornBeck was awarded the Academy of Science and Technology Merit Award® (Oscar © Little Goldman) in 2014 in recognition of the digital micromirror device (DMD) technology he invented for DLP Cinema® projection.
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