AR glasses are regarded as the next generation personal terminal most likely to replace smartphones.
In the past year, global manufacturers have released AR glasses products in droves. Domestic AR companies such as Thunderbird Innovation, Rokid, XREAL, INMO Technology and other companies have successively released new products and completed a new round of financing. A group of start-ups represented by ARknovv, the AR glasses brand founded by former partner Wu Dezhou of Smartisan Technology, have entered the AR track. Many major Internet companies have released new AR glasses products: Xiaomi officially released the wireless AR glasses exploration version, and OPPO displayed a new generation of smart glasses OPPO Air Glass. 2. ZTE Nubia launched AR smart glasses nubia Neovision Glass, Lenovo released a new generation of lightweight AR glasses Morningstar G2 light, etc.
The formation of a competitive landscape is a key factor in the impending explosion of AR technology. International technology giants such as Apple, Google, and Microsoft are actively deploying in the AR field and plan to launch innovative AR glasses products in the next few years, which has injected new vitality into the AR industry and enhanced the confidence of other companies and investors in the market. At the same time, emerging technology companies and startups continue to explore new application scenarios and business models of AR technology through technological innovation and market segmentation, promoting the diversified development of the industry.
In addition, the explosion of AR technology is also driven by factors from multiple dimensions, including technological progress, market demand, capital promotion, policy support, social impact, ecosystem construction, etc.
First of all, venture capital and industrial capital investment in the AR field continues to increase, and local governments’ support policies for high-tech, including financial support, tax incentives, etc., have provided sufficient financial support and created favorable conditions for the research and application of AR technology. At the same time, consumers’ pursuit of novel experiences has promoted extensive attempts at AR applications in gaming, education, medical and other fields, attracting more and more user attention. Meanwhile, technology companies and startupsEnthusiasm and investment in the AR field continue to increase, accelerating the iteration and development of AR technology and products.
Of course, technological progress is the core driving force for the development of AR. In terms of hardware, the development of new display technologies and optical solutions such as Micro LED and geometric light waveguides have significantly improved the display effect and user experience of AR glasses. These technologies have greatly improved the brightness, contrast and response speed of AR glasses, while also optimizing the size and weight of the device. In terms of software platforms, AR development platforms such as ARKit and ARCore launched by Apple, Google and other companies have greatly simplified the development process of AR applications and promoted the richness and diversity of AR content.
Display solutions have always been one of the key factors limiting the development of AR glasses.
In 2012, Google launched the world's first consumer-grade AR glasses, bringing AR technology into the public eye. However, the prism solution used in this AR glasses has natural flaws in light transmittance and cannot achieve the AR optical requirements of complete transparency and all-weather wear. However, it meets this requirement.At that time, optical waveguides were still lacking in terms of technological maturity and yield rate.
At this time, Lipai Optical Crystal was established, becoming the first domestic enterprise to carry out research and development of AR near-eye display and optical waveguide technology and products.
At present, Lipai Optical Crystal has become the world's leading provider of AR optical waveguide display devices and solutions. It has completely independent core intellectual property rights in the field of geometric optical waveguides, and has realized the mass production of geometric optical waveguide two-dimensional pupil expansion technology. Its molecular bonding process for high-performance optical glass has solved the problem of low yield rate of geometric optical waveguides in mass production and provided a set of better solutions for AR near-eye display.
01 Independently innovate molecular bonding technology to overcome mass production problems
Compared with AR technology, VR (virtual reality) is an independent artificial virtual environment that can replace reality. It is more common in the daily life of the public and its main applicationFor game entertainment. VR's visual presentation method blocks the connection between the human eye and the real world: wearing VR equipment, users can experience a completely different and lifelike digital world and gain an immersive experience.
Although they are all virtual imaging, AR projects virtual information into the real physical environment, spatially enhances the physical world, and achieves the effect of virtual and real fusion and mutual reinforcement. When the human eye is connected to the real world, holographic images are superimposed to enhance its visual presentation. Its application scope is wider and can be integrated into various scenes of public life and work.
Li Wei, chairman of Lipa Optoelectronics, believes that the usage scenario of VR is the living room, and the final market volume will be similar to that of game consoles, while the usage scenarios of AR are more extensive, and its market volume can reach the level of smartphones.
Since AR is a technology that cleverly integrates virtual information with the real world, after wearing AR glasses, the user still has to have images of the real world in their field of vision. This also requires the optical solution of AR to satisfy two functions at the same time. On the one hand, it must pass through the scene information of the real environment, and on the other hand, it mustOn the one hand, the virtual image information output by the micro-display is transmitted to the human eye, thereby achieving image enhancement.
The optical imaging system of AR glasses consists of micro-displays (LCOS, LBS, Micro OLED, Micro LED, etc.) and optical components (prism, free-form surface, BirdBath, optical waveguide, etc.). Among them, optical waveguide, as the display device closest in form to existing myopia glasses, is generally considered to be the mainstream optical solution for AR glasses in the future.
Optical waveguides can be divided into two types: geometric optical waveguides and diffractive optical waveguides.
The geometric optical waveguide selected by Lipai Optical Crystal is composed of reflective or refractive prisms arranged in an array. Based on the traditional catadioptric optical principle, in the repeated process of "reflection-refraction", it avoids the dispersion problem of the diffracted optical waveguide, while achieving the advantages of high resolution, full-color display, ultra-thin and other advantages.
Prior to this, the patents for geometric optical waveguides were mainly held by the Israeli company Lumus. If you want to produce geometric optical waveguides, you need to obtain a patent authorization.Or build a patent pool to break through the blockade. One year after the company was founded, Lipa Optical Crystal developed geometric light waveguide lenses and applied for the first domestic core patent for geometric light waveguides. Up to now, Lipa Optical Crystal has completely independent core intellectual property rights in the field of geometric optical waveguides.
The main difficulties of geometric optical waveguides are the design of two-dimensional pupil expansion and yield control in mass production.
The production process of geometric optical waveguides can be regarded as the cutting, polishing, coating and lamination of glass. Among them, the three steps of glass cutting, polishing, and coating have accumulated a fairly mature industrial chain due to the rapid development of consumer electronics products in the past. The main difficulty lies in lamination. The original artificial glue lamination required 30 pieces of glass to be laminate at one time, and no operational deviations could occur. Therefore, the yield rate of this step is low and it is difficult to achieve large-scale mass production. In 2015, Lipa Opto-Crystal developed a molecular bonding technology that can fit all glasses at once without the need for glue. Li Wei said, "Molecular bonding technology is produced by destroying the original molecular bonds and then reorganizing the molecular bonds. This can not only ensure the display effect of the product, but also ensure the product yield. After years of iterative upgrades, our yield in this step has been improvedClose to 100%, which can ensure the performance consistency of the product in the laboratory stage and mass production stage. ”
In addition, based on molecular bonding technology, Lipa Optoelectronics has also developed processing services for the glass bonding process in the production of mobile phones, optical communications and other parts, achieving self-production before the outbreak of AR. "These products already have a mature market, and molecular bonding technology can not only ensure production yield, but also improve display effects." We have sent samples to domestic and foreign mobile phone manufacturers and companies in the optical communications field. The current feedback is pretty good, and it is expected to become a new expansion point for our business. ”
02 Firmly adhere to the geometric optical waveguide technology route and break through two-dimensional pupil expansion
It has been nearly 20 years since the concept of geometric optical waveguide was proposed by the Israeli company Lumus. It is mainly shipped in the form of one-dimensional pupil expansion products. However, the optical machine of one-dimensional pupil expansion is large and does not meet the expectations of AR companies and users for the form of AR glasses that are close to myopia glasses.
Two-dimensional pupil expansion can be achieved simultaneously.The vertical and horizontal two-way exit pupil expansion can ensure a larger eye movement range and is more in line with the activity characteristics of the human eye. At the same time, it can also reduce the size of the optical machine to the size of the temples of myopia glasses. It is considered to be a better solution for consumer-grade AR glasses.
Li Wei said that because the two-dimensional pupil expansion design of diffractive optical waveguides is easier to implement, in the past few years, both investors and customers have suggested that Pai Optical Crystal lay out diffractive optical waveguides and advance in both directions at the same time. "Our team all has a background in the optical industry. We firmly chose geometric light waveguides because the two-dimensional expanded pupil geometric light waveguides have outstanding performance in terms of light efficiency and display effects." According to the author's understanding, diffraction light waveguides have serious light leakage, which brings about the problem of double-sided display. On the one hand, there are privacy protection and ethical risks for users. On the other hand, light leakage prevents other people from making eye contact with the wearer. This is a problem that is difficult to solve with technology.
In 2022, Lipai Optical Crystal successfully broke through the two-dimensional pupil expansion technology of geometric light waveguides.
Two-dimensional expanded pupil optical waveguide not only raises the optical design requirements to a higher level, but also makes the production process more stringent. The display effect of the one-dimensional pupil-expanded optical waveguide produced by glue bonding is still within an acceptable range. The larger number of reflective surfaces of the two-dimensional pupil-expanded optical waveguide will not only cause the yield to plummet, but also lead to poor display effects and other problems. Based on independently innovative molecular bonding technology, Lipa Optical Crystal has easily overcome the difficulties in the bonding process of two-dimensional pupil expansion.
Li Wei said that another advantage of geometric optical waveguides is reflected in the technological maturity and supply chain completeness of equipment and materials in manufacturing. All equipment and materials can be independently controlled domestically. Diffraction optical waveguides are divided into surface relief gratings and bulk gratings, which are produced through nanoimprinting and holographic material exposure, in conjunction with semiconductor etching processes. At present, the nanoimprinting process is difficult due to issues such as template design, imprinting error, and input-output ratio; the entire system of gratings is subject to higher uncertainties such as the development and stability of photosensitive materials.
At the end of 2023, Lipai Optical Crystal will achieve mass production of two-dimensional expanded pupil geometric optical waveguides.In February this year, it launched two-dimensional pupil expansion products on the market and has already received orders from overseas manufacturers.
03 Promote the implementation of greater production capacity and wait for the industry to explode
As for the corporate positioning of Lipai Optoelectronics, Li Wei said that Lipai Optoelectronics is not only a technology research and development company, but also a manufacturing company that can achieve mass production. "For manufacturing enterprises, quality is the most critical part."
In 2022, Lipai Optoelectronics built a Kunshan production base in Jiangsu. The factory covers an area of over 3,000 square meters and can support a production capacity of 100,000 sets a year. It also ensures product quality and consistency through a complete upstream supplier management and control system and a full-process inspection system for incoming materials, production processes and shipped products. "In the process of connecting with overseas manufacturers, they showed their recognition of our technology, patents and processes, but they questioned our mass production capabilities. Therefore, we plan to promote the construction of a larger factory this year, with a factory area of 15,000 to 20,000 square meters."
Currently, Lipai Optical Crystal's products are mainly sold in the form of optical waveguide lenses and optical machine modules, and have been widely used in B-end industry, medical, education, security and other scenarios as well as C-end consumer markets.
Facing the future, Li Wei revealed that Lipai Optical Crystal will continue to improve its screen, higher definition and color reproduction. They will continue to ensure the delivery of orders in the B-side market while increasing investment in the C-side market. He said, "The ecological construction of the B-side has become more and more complete. For example, there are many standard software that can be used in industrial scenarios. But the C-side is what really determines whether AR can enter public life. There are currently no C-side products that are really sold in large quantities. It is understood that this year me< em>ta will release the first optical waveguide smart glasses, which will be sold in batches next year. In 2026, Apple will also release its first smart glasses, so we believe that next year will be the time for the industry to explode, and all we have to do is wait. ”
On the eve of the industry outbreak,Li Pai Guangjing is ready.
ANNA