Advanced light-control chipsets – Applications

DLP systems can produce non-contact, highly accurate 3D data in real-time using programmable structured light patterns. By projecting a series of patterns onto an object and capturing the light distortion with a camera or sensor, one can generate a 3D point cloud.

The point cloud can be used directly for analysis of the object’s surface area, volume, or feature sizes. It can also be exported to a variety of CAD modeling formats.

3D Printing is the additive manufacturing process of building a three-dimensional object with successive layers of material. The process allows manufacturers to speed up design cycles, make quicker prototype adjustments, and and print production parts.

A 3D Computer Aided Design (CAD) model of the object is converted into a series of cross-sectional slices that are sent to the 3D printer. The TI DLP DMD (Digital Micromirror Device) is used to project patterned light for a given layer, which eventually builds the object.  For DLP stereolithography (SLA) printers, liquid resins are hardened by light exposure.  For selective laser sintering (SLS) systems, fine powders are fused together by laser thermal energy.  

Using DLP technology, build speeds remain constant independent of layer complexity. Projection optics can also be used to control the resolution on the image plane and adjust the layer thickness, leading to smooth finished parts with fine feature sizes. These benefits, combined with its proven reliability, make DLP technology an ideal solution for additive manufacturing solutions.

Digital lithography is used for PCB manufacturing, flat panel display repair, laser marking, and other light exposure systems. In digital lithography, DLP technology provides high speed and high resolution light patterns to expose photoresist films and other photosensitive materials without using contact masks. This reduces material cost, improves production rates, and allows for rapid pattern changes, especially ideal for use cases where fine feature sizes require double patterning.

All molecules have unique responses to different wavelengths of light. Spectroscopy is an analysis technique that uses these unique responses to identify and characterize materials. In a spectrometer design, the TI DLP Digital Micromirror Device (DMD) can be used as a programmable wavelength selector. Broadband light goes through an optical slit. Then the individual wavelengths of light are dispersed onto the micromirror array using a diffraction grating or prism, allowing subsets of the micromirror array to be mapped to specific wavelengths. Specific wavelengths of light can then be switched to a single-element detector. This powerful design architecture eliminates the need for linear array detectors or motors to generate a spectral scan over a wavelength range, enabling chemical analysis with higher performance and smaller form factors at lower costs.