I wonder if this has implications for custom home chips/prototyping. I'm sure a big issue is vibrations but something like this could remove the need for masks at least. (again, not my area so I am clobbering terminology I am sure). It may open up home fab capabilities.
I think abusing a write-off electron microscope to side step the need for masks is also an interesting idea, however, I believe acquiring wafers of sufficient quality and depositing layers to be etched could be the bigger challenge here.
This reminds me of the original patents that Magic Leap had, which involved pumping light through a single optical fiber that was wiggled by piezoelectrics into a spiral to project light (https://kguttag.com/2018/01/06/magic-leap-fiber-scanning-dis...).
Seems what it is, but with a "waveguide" instead of an "optical fiber" wiggling about. Seems like a sneaky use of the word "projection" though, since the "surface" the image is "projected" onto is just what the flopping waveguide head traces.
> The chip projected a roughly 125-micrometer image of the Mona Lisa.
This may seem small (barely visible as a dot to the naked eye), but that's also the geometric mean of the Planck length and the diameter of the observable universe. So average size actually.
Huygens Optics:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_w0Z2Y5vaAQ
Sam Zeloof:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nxz_ENnmgtI
In general, getting vanity silicon made is usually much less expensive than trying to bootstrap a fab line. =3
This may seem small (barely visible as a dot to the naked eye), but that's also the geometric mean of the Planck length and the diameter of the observable universe. So average size actually.
Or alternative true augmented reality glasses that are not limited to one focal plane.
https://www.rp-photonics.com/phase_modulators.html
Srsly title should be "MEMS Array Chip the Size of a Grain of Sand Can Project Video"
not
"MEMS Array Chip Can Project Video the Size of a Grain of Sand"