In Augmented Reality News
August 14, 2024 – Vuzix, a supplier of smart glasses and augmented reality (AR) technology and products, has this week announced that it has developed a new micro-touch manufacturing technique within its fabrication processes for optical waveguides – the components that direct light within smart glasses to create the visual displays users see. According to Vuzix, the advancement will allow for better optical performance, higher yields and greater unit production rates in general.
Vuzix stated that the production of waveguides at the company’s state-of-the-art manufacturing facility is a complex multi-step process. Performed in class 1000 clean room environments—rooms in which the air quality is controlled to have no more than 1,000 particles (0.5 micrometers or larger) per cubic foot of air—the process uses highly customized equipment designed to support the exacting requirements needed to produce in volume the high-quality waveguides required for imaging purposes in smart glasses.
Vuzix noted that over the past 14 years it has continued to enhance its waveguide manufacturing capabilities through the development and use of new equipment and processes to improve yields, add features, increase performance, and boost production rates.
The recent introduction of the company’s micro-touch manufacturing techniques during the waveguide imprinting process help to improve yield by reducing the forces that can distort or damage the materials on which the waveguides are built. Additionally, the micro-touch approach makes it possible to use more fragile materials, like polymers or thinner glass, which might otherwise be more prone to breaking under pressure.
“It is generally well known today that the high-volume low-cost production of waveguides is one of the major challenges to bringing affordable AR smart glasses with see-through displays to the broader markets,” said Paul Travers, President and Chief Executive Officer at Vuzix.
“More and more leading firms, such as Garmin and Quanta, as well as many other customers currently in discussions with us, see Vuzix as the go-to supplier of this key component. The addition of innovative process developments at Vuzix like these will help support production rates in the millions of units annually, as well as further differentiate our competitive capabilities.”
For more information on Vuzix and its augmented reality technology solutions, including its waveguide manufacturing capabilities, please visit the company’s website.
Image credit: Vuzix
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Sam is the Founder and Managing Editor of Auganix. With a background in research and report writing, he has been covering XR industry news for the past seven years.