Times are all Pacific Standard Time (UTC - 8:00)
This session will focus on the design, production, and manufacturing processes needed for the best XR devices. Speaking: EVG, SCIL Nanoimprint Solutions / Philips, Morphotonics, scia Systems, NIL Technology, Goertek, and Applied Materials.
1:00 PM - Session Chair: Christophe Peroz, SONY
1:10 PM
Nanoimprint Lithography: Adding Benefits to AR Waveguide Manufacturing at Many Levels
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Nanoimprint Lithography: Adding Benefits to AR Waveguide Manufacturing at Many Levels
Waver-level nanoimprint lithography (NIL) represents an efficient and high precision nonconventional lithography method capable to replicate complex micro- and nano-scale structures. The flexibility of this method in imprinting different shape patterns on various substrate materials as well as the reliable fabrication of high-quality surfaces made NIL a key enabling technology for next generation devices and applications across the photonic industry. The results presented in this work give an overview of the flexibility in imprint resins, substrate materials and size and integration options possible by using UV-NIL.
1:30 PM
SCIL Production Solutions: Turning your Surfaces into Functions
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SCIL Production Solutions: Turning your Surfaces into Functions
In optics, the surface determines the function. In classic optics you have material parameters, like refractive index, but the material shape / curvature (and roughness) determines the function. The advancement of nano-technology led to new methods to drastically lower fabrication costs per cm2 (compared to semicon approaches) and new insights in how electro-magnetic waves can be influenced at the fundamental level. That’s how nano-photonics was born. Nano-photonics allows us to control light with much more precision and functions than possible using conventional optics and enables new technologies such as diffractive waveguides and meta-lenses. The demands that these applications place on the patterns are not so easily met. The size and shape needs to be reproducible to an absolute size with variations less than 1 -2nm. Furthermore, the materials used need to have a high refractive index, preferably above n=2.0. The large area devices drive towards 300mm wafer processing to increase output and lower costs. To further decrease costs, directly patterning functional optical materials is needed to save 2 vacuum deposition steps and 3 vacuum dry-etch steps, both using expensive equipment. The industry is converging on nanoimprint lithography as a production technology that can address all these challenges. SCIL nanoimprint solutions is building on 20+ years material-, process- and tool building experience to provide customer specific high volume production solutions. Our approach has always been to start from the process and functional materials which allows us to optimize for stamp lifetime (500+), directly patterning fully inorganic functional materials (refractive index up to n=2.1), binary, blazed or slanted patterns with accuracy (less than 1nm absolute size variation). Our latest FabSCIL cluster tool offers processing of 200 and 300mm wafers, from 300 micron up to 2.5mm thickness, overlay lower than 1 micron even with alignment of patterns from the top to the bottom of the wafer. In the contribution we’ll elaborate on the material systems, reproducibility and production solutions.
1:50 PM
Beyond Wafer-scale: Path for AR Optics Mass Manufacturing & Cost Reduction
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Beyond Wafer-scale: Path for AR Optics Mass Manufacturing & Cost Reduction
If AR smart glasses are to become the ‘next big thing’ and commonplace, their optics must be easier and more affordable to manufacture. Though optics may only be part of a total AR system, it plays a vital role as the window to the world for its wearer. The industry has already set the technical criterion for an acceptable AR optics solution in terms of efficiency and form factor. But the commercial viability of this complex optical product is still challenging. The solution to cost-effectively produce the waveguide combiners, is to switch the manufacturing mindset from a purely semiconductor-based one to one rooted in the realities and learnings of the display industry. We at Morphotonics strive to build the foundation for a future when large-area nanoimprinting can produce AR optical waveguide combiners in display volumes. In this talk, we will address the upscaling process of AR optics manufacturing via large-area nanoimprinting as well as the remaining challenges in terms of performance, materials, and manufacturability. Additionally, we will highlight the exemplary work recently undertaken with our industry partners to validate the entire value chain from design to mastering to replication on panel-level nanoimprint equipment using rectangular high refractive index glass substrates and high refractive index resins.
2:10 PM
Etching of Masters for SRG Nanoimprint with Varying Slant Angle and Depth
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Etching of Masters for SRG Nanoimprint with Varying Slant Angle and Depth
In order to fabricate lightweight near eye displays for AR application, surface relief gratings are used for coupling the light from the source into the light guide and out of the light guide towards the eye. To suppress higher diffraction orders and thus maximize the light yield those gratings are slanted. Reactive Ion Beam Trimming (RIBT) was used for fabrication of surface relief gratings with both varying slant angle and varying trench depth on a master stamp. The substrate had been covered with a hard mask providing the basic grating geometry such as period and duty cycle. Localized ion beam etching was applied to etch the trenches for the grating. Varying the ion irradiation dose (by means of dwell time variation) defines the trench depth on a local level. The angle of incidence of the ion beam directly transfers into the substrate as the slant angle and can be varied independently of the dwell time, providing the unique possibility to achieve a continuous variation of the slant angle across one die. In a later step, nanoimprint lithography can be used for replication.
2:30 PM
Waveguide and Sensing Technologies for AR/VR/MR
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Waveguide and Sensing Technologies for AR/VR/MR
We present our latest developments and results in making masters for replication of surface relief waveguides. Accurate control of the diffractive gratings in the input, expander and outcoupling (eyebox) areas are essential for good performing AR glasses. Advanced shapes of the gratings are used in many designs, and we here present results from masters and sub-masters having large areas with high precision, binary structures as well as both blazed and slanted gratings. Besides the waveguides used in in the displays, registration of the actual surroundings using 3D sensing is a very important feature to get the fullest out of the AR experience. We present latest developments of our compact optical solutions for 3D sensing.
2:50 PM
Aspheric Lens, Finel Lens, Hybrid Diffractive Optical Components for VR/AR
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Aspheric Lens, Finel Lens, Hybrid Diffractive Optical Components for VR/AR
This will discuss Goertek's a number of highly integrated, superior performance small system in package (SiP) solutions that can meet the requirements for small-size and functional integration into intelligent hardware systems, as well as the latest lineup in the high performance, high precision MEMS sensor series, including blood pressure, differential pressure, pneumatic and vibration sensors.
3:10 PM
Enabling a Superior AR Experience with High Performance Waveguides
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Enabling a Superior AR Experience with High Performance Waveguides
Abstract: “We believe we are in the early stages of AR, and that the solutions to enable the user experience needed to drive mass adoption will be more sophisticated that currently available. This talk shares some of the technologies we are developing to enable the all-day augmented reality glasses we want to wear.”