DMD

Patent Pending A digital micromirror device, or DMD, is an optical semiconductor that is the core of DLP projection technology,[1] and was invented by Dr. Larry Hornbeck and Dr. William E. "Ed" Nelson of Texas Instruments (TI) in 1987. A DMD chip has on its surface several hundred thousand microscopic mirrors arranged in a rectangular array which correspond to the pixels in the image to be displayed. The mirrors can be individually rotated ±10-12°, to an on or off state. In the on state, light from the projector bulb is reflected into the lens making the pixel appear bright on the screen. In the off state, the light is directed elsewhere (usually onto a heatsink), making the pixel appear dark.