We have developed a three-dimensional 3D optical modeling of small color pixels in color filter
liquid-crystal-on-silicon CF-LCOS microdisplays. The 3D optical modeling includes a LC
electromechanical analysis of color LC cells, a calculation of optical reflectance using the extended
Jones matrix, and a standard RGB sRGB representation of the optical reflectance in the pixel array.
The simulated optical reflectance agreed well with the experiments. With this 3D optical analysis as
a tool, the relation of the lateral color fringing field with pixel size and thickness of color filter were
studied. Minimizations of the fringing field in the CF-LCOS microdisplays were obtained by pixel
arrangement, rubbing direction, and LC mode. The color purity of the CF-LCOS microdisplays
could attain 63% National Television System Committee NTSC level for a typical pixel size of
15 m. With an optimized LC mode, the color purity could still be maintained at 54% NTSC level
even when the pixel size was reduced to 9 m. This enabled the feasibility of the CF-LCOS
microdisplays for very high-resolution display applications. © 2