Colorado MicroDisplay Introduces Display Chipset
San Jose, CA-based Colorado MicroDisplay Inc. has unveiled a chip set for enhancing the display capabilities of wireless products. The new chip set consists of three main elements: the CMD8X6D, an SVGA microdisplay; the CMD8X6DDI, a display interface application-specific IC (ASIC); and the CMD3XLA, an illumination control ASIC.
The CMD8X6D dynamic nematic liquid crystal on silicon (DNLCOS) microdisplay is a high-performance, field-sequential microdisplay that delivers SVGA resolution, rich-color depth, and high-optical efficiency. Housed in a ball-grid array package, this display includes on-board, digital-to-analog (D/A) converters as well as color look-up tables.
The CMD8X6DDI display interface ASIC contains embedded dynamic random-access memory (DRAM), offering original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) a turnkey solution to interfacing to the CMD8X6D SVGA microdisplay. Its single-chip architecture provides the seamless digital connection between the various input sources (analog and digital) and the microdisplay, and performs the role of sequentializing the pixel data required to create images on the microdisplay.
The interface ASIC can control multiple microdisplays. It supports the Flat Panel Digital Interface, as well as a VESA-compliant DDC2B (I²C) control interface.
The last component of the microdisplay system is the CMD3XLA illumination controller. This ASIC manages the light-emitting diode (LED) illumination system performance and resulting image quality. It performs the role of synchronizing the LED illumination with the pixel data sent to the display, and responds to control information provided by the system electronics.
To assist OEMs in their design-in process, Colorado MicroDisplay offers a CMD8X6D Chipset Evaluation Kit. The kit includes everything necessary to evaluate and integrate the CMD8X6D microdisplay solution, from the input side of the equation to the creation of images on the display.
Chipset prototypes are now shipping. Samples will be available in the third quarter of 1999 with production slated for the fourth quarter of 1999. The entire chip set will be priced at $100 in OEM volumes.