Forth Dimension Displays
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| Public | |
| Industry | Electronics |
| Founded | 1998 (as Micropix) 2004 (as CRLO Displays Ltd) 2005 (as Forth Dimension Displays) 2011 (acquired by Kopin Corporation but remains as Forth Dimension Displays) |
| Headquarters | Dalgety Bay, Fife, Scotland, United Kingdom |
| Products | Microdisplays |
| Revenue |
 US$ 6 million (2010) |
|
Number of employees
|
38 (2011) |
| Website | www.forthdd.com |
Forth Dimension Displays (ForthDD) is a British optoelectronics company based in Dalgety Bay, Fife, United Kingdom.
Founded in 1998 as Micropix and known later as CRL Opto and CRLO Displays, ForthDD makes high resolution microdisplays and spatial light modulators (SLM). The microdisplays are used in near-to-eye (NTE) applications for the military training and simulation, medical imagery, virtual reality and high definition image processing industries. The SLMs are used for structured light projection in 3D optical metrology and 3D super resolution microscopy. Headquartered in Dalgety Bay, Scotland, ForthDD also operates sales offices in the United States, Germany and Japan, and a customer support office in Germany. Previously funded by venture capitalists, in January 2011 ForthDD was acquired by Kopin Corporation, a NASDAQ listed company based in Taunton, Massachusetts, USA.
ForthDD’s microdisplays and SLMs are based on a proprietary, high-speed, ferroelectric liquid crystal on silicon (LCOS) platform, protected by a number of patents. For the generation of colour and greyscale, ForthDD’s microdisplays use a process called Time Domain Imaging (TDI™). This process involves rendering the red, green and blue colour components which make up an image sequentially over time at high speed. This happens so fast that the human visual system integrates the components into a single, full colour image. This enables the microdisplays to use the same pixel mirror for all three colour components, and avoids the artifacts associated with sub-pixels.
LCOS Technology History
The first LCOS device originated in 1973, followed by a development of a liquid-crystal light valve ten years later. It was not until 1993, that a microdisplay with a resolution sufficient for use as a display was reported by DisplayTech (now Citizen Finedevices). It was capable of full red–green–blue image generation, enabled by the use of a fast-switching ferroelectric liquid crystal.
During the early part of the 21st century, many microdisplay manufacturers focused on applying the technology to rear projection based High Definition Television (HDTV) systems. However, due to developments in the manufacturing process of large-panel Liquid Crystal Display Televisions (LCD TVs) and resulting drops in the cost of components, LCD based TVs matured into the more popular consumer choice. By late 2007 almost all microdisplay Rear Projection Television (RPTV) manufacturers had withdrawn their TVs from production.
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