We have built a real-time 24-bit-color micro display, the resolution of which approaches the imaging system's theoretical limitation constrained by diffraction of visible lights. Coupled with LED light sources, an electrostatically-actuated 500-nm-diameter aperture worked as a ‘scanning pixel’ to produce a high-resolution real-time image. A micro X-Y mechanical scanner fabricated on an SOI wafer was used to control the position of the aperture. The high cutoff frequencies of the micro actuators and the LEDs successfully satisfied the requirement for the proposed visual system. Images produced in the display's 10 µm-square scanning field were then evaluated to demonstrate the achieved diffraction limited-resolution.

References :
Kazunori Hoshino, Kouichi Yamada, Kiyoshi Matsumoto, Isao Shimoyama, “A Diffraction-Limited-Resolution Full-Color Display with a 10 µm-square Visual Field,” 16th IEEE International Micro Electro Mechanical Systems Conference (MEMS '03), pp. 283-286, Kyoto, Japan, Jan. 19-23, 2003. [Proceedings]

Kazunori Hoshino, Koichi Yamada, Isao Shimoyama, “A Diffraction-Limited, Real-Time, Full-Colour Display,” Journal of Micromechanics and Microengineering, vol. 15, no. 11, pp. 2194-2197, 2005. [Paper]