ACTIVE MATRIX FOIL DISPLAY

摘要

A foil display device comprising an electrostatically operable foil (15) adapted to locally be brought into contact with a substrate (12) to thereby modulate light emitted from the display, a plurality of pixel electrodes arranged on one side of the foil, each connected to a pixel circuit, arranged to apply a pixel voltage to the pixel electrode during a time period, and a common electrode arranged on the other side of the foil. The display further comprises means (32) for providing said common electrode (30) with a gradually increasing or decreasing voltage during the time period, so that a switching point in time for the foil (15) in a particular pixel area corresponding to a particular pixel electrode (20) is determined by the pixel voltage applied to this pixel electrode (20). The display device according to the invention is addressed using active matrix addressing, by setting the voltage level of each pixel electrode by means of its respective pixel circuit. Then the common electrode voltage is changed within a given range. When the common electrode voltage reaches a given value, the force exerted by common electrode voltage will exceed (or drop below) the force exerted by the applied pixel voltage by a large enough value, and the pixel will switch.