Qingting.com reported on June 2 that the domestic AR optical waveguide technology manufacturer "Guangzhou Semiconductor" (Shenzhen Guangzhou Semiconductor Technology Co., Ltd.) made its public debut at AWE 2023 and demonstrated the latest AR optical waveguide modules and optical machines. / light engine, automotive HUD three major products.
Guangzhou Semiconductor was established in January 2020. The company was co-founded by Zhu Yisheng, an expert in AR optics, Tapani Levola, the father of diffractive optical waveguides in the industry, and Chu Daping, a professor of optoelectronics and sensors at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom. It focuses on: optical waveguides, optical engines, Technology development and manufacturing of micro-nano semiconductors. Among them, Tapani Levola is an important person who pushed the diffractive optical waveguide into mass production, and this product is the well-known HoloLens 1.
"It has been hidden for three years, now is the time to unveil the veil"--Three years after its establishment, Guangzhou Semiconductor chose the world's largest AR industry exhibition AWE 2023 for its first public appearance, which not only represents confidence in its own products, but also means Will accept the test of the international market.
Guangzhou Semiconductor has a clear goal and plan. It has completed product layout, research and development, and production in the past three years. More than 120 patents (including nearly 60 invention patents) have been reserved, and a mass production capacity of 10,000 sets/month of optical waveguide modules has been realized. Not only the product strength is strong enough, but also the mass production has reached the stage of scale.
The following are the exhibits of Guangzhou Semiconductor in AWE 2023:
1. Optical waveguide module
In terms of optical waveguides, Guangzhou Semiconductor exhibited two single-optical binocular products: LHASA 5, LHASA 6, and a single-chip full-color optical waveguide: LEVOLA 32. Of course, it can be customized according to customer needs. The optical waveguide module has several features: single-layer design (thinner, less costly), better color uniformity (cooperating with the optical machine, better color performance), etc., which are refreshing.
Among them, LHASA adopts the "single optical camera and binocular" solution, which has two versions of single green and full color; while the LEVOLA series adopts the single optical camera solution, which is aimed at binocular 3D products. Both series belong to the SRG surface relief grating scheme, and both adopt a single-layer design. Among them, the thickness of the single green version is 0.5mm, and the thickness of the full-color version is 0.75mm.
According to Qingting.com, SRG diffractive optical waveguides are also subdivided into four categories according to different grating processes: tilted gratings (represented: HoloLens), blazed gratings (represented by tables: Magic Leap, WaveOptics), and binary gratings. Most SRG products are based on the first two types of solutions. The biggest feature of the SRG diffractive optical waveguide of Guangzhou Semiconductor is that it adopts an innovative multi-step grating, which is also a patented product of Guangzhou Semiconductor.
Among them, the "single optics binocular" solution is not only the first in the industry, but the product has already landed. The LHASA 5 series has been installed in AR glasses such as "Li Weike Meta Lens S1". The feature of the single-optical machine and binocular solution is that only one optical machine is needed to realize binocular coupling display. This solution has the following advantages:
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1. The factory provides high-precision fusion, and there is no need for binocular matching in the future;
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2. Only a single optical machine is needed, which is beneficial to control power consumption and cost;
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3. It saves space and is conducive to the structural design of the whole machine.
The display effect is also very good. My first impression of the light boat semiconductor optical waveguide module is that the picture is very pure, the picture uniformity is very high, and the dispersion suppression is quite good. It is the light with the best comprehensive display quality that I have experienced so far. The waveguide module is definitely the first echelon of domestic diffractive optical waveguides.
In order to solve the problem of ambient light diffraction (stray light caused by high-brightness light sources in the environment) that has always existed in optical waveguide modules, Guangzhou Semiconductor also provides corresponding solutions. Thanks to the accumulation of optical technology, Guangzhou Semiconductor has developed a special optical film, which can solve the problem of ambient light diffraction and further improve the purity of the picture, so that it can meet the requirements of AR glasses in more complex environments. The following usage requirements. At the same time, the film can also greatly reduce forward light leakage and improve privacy protection.
To sum up, Guangzhou Semiconductor has a rich patent matrix, self-developed innovative multi-step grating, the world's unique patented single-optical machine binocular design, etc., to strengthen and optimize the weakness of the diffractive optical waveguide, it can be said that it has accumulated a lot, Not to be underestimated.
2. Light engine
In terms of light engines, "Guangzhou Semiconductor" displayed three DLP light engine modules, namely: M30, D32Pro, and D25Mini, which can also be customized based on requirements.
According to the above product combination, it can be seen that the M30 adopts the Micro LED solution, which is characterized by small size and light weight; the D series light engine adopts the DLP solution. compact.
Combining the optical waveguide and light engine parts, "Lightboat Semiconductor" also provides a variety of AR glasses reference designs, including:
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LHASA 5 optical waveguide with M30 optical engine;
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LHASA 6 optical waveguide with D32Pro optical engine;
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LHASA 6 optical waveguide with D25Mini optical engine;
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LEVOLA 32 optical waveguide with D32Pro optical engine;
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LEVOLA 32 optical waveguide with D25Mini optical engine.
Based on these reference design solutions, the whole brand can create AR glasses products more quickly, reduce the R&D cycle, and speed up the pace of listing; at the same time, the above-mentioned optical waveguides, optical engines, and reference designs can be customized according to customer needs.
3. Car HUD
The automotive HUD product belongs to the "Lightway Display" brand, and currently shows a vehicle HUD display solution based on diffractive optical waveguide technology: LiLou V1.
It is understood that LiLou V1 adopts the combination of diffractive optical waveguide solution (SRG) + DLP light engine, the FOV ratio is 16:9, the viewing distance is > 20 meters, the volume (optical waveguide + PGU) < 1L, and the brightness > 12000nit. On the whole, it is outstanding in terms of optical display effect and volume control.