Small television screens
One of the Metaverse’s biggest blockers is the discomfort of headsets, which at best feel like wearing a fanny pack over your face. But many companies are working to create ever-smaller microscreens that will enable more compact, higher-resolution, lower-power virtual and augmented reality devices.
At the forefront of this microdisplay revolution is Silex Microsystems, a leading manufacturer of micro-electromechanical systems, or MEMS, tiny devices that act as accelerometers, pressure sensors, and micro-displays. screens.
“We are the largest pure-play MEMS foundry in the world,” Edvard Kälvesten, CEO and co-founder of Silex, told Forbes, explaining that the silicon-based manufacturing process is similar to that of semiconductor chips. bigger. Silex does not design products under its brand. own; rather, it specializes in realizing the inventions of the world’s MEMS visionaries, including renowned technology giants, the world’s largest medical and industrial companies, and groundbreaking startups.
In this context, Silex enables the development of micro-LEDs, using extremely small light-emitting diodes to create high-resolution light displays. The small size of Micro-LEDs enables pixel densities that exceed traditional display technologies. The smallest LEDs have a diameter of about 50 microns, and Kälvesten said Silex is working to reduce the size to 1 to 2 microns, or about the size of a red blood cell.
“It’s like a very small television screen,” Kälvesten said, adding that the screens are less than a square centimeter and have a million pixels or more.
But reducing screens is only part of the challenge. Silex also works with its customers to optimize the optics suitable for these miniaturized screens. “We use waveguides to create a 3D optical image,” Kälvesten added. Waveguides are thin, transparent structures used to direct and manipulate light from a microdisplay toward the user’s eyes.
The smallest LEDs have a diameter of about 50 microns, and Kälvesten said Silex is working to reduce the size to 1 to 2 microns, or about the size of a red blood cell.
Achieving extreme miniaturization while maintaining high enough pixel density to deliver a truly immersive visual experience is the crucial challenge.
“Everyone says, ‘I won’t wear glasses,'” Kälvesten admitted. “But when you talk to these tech companies, they tell us that Micro-LED displays integrated into waveguide-assisted AR lenses will happen.”
Silex is also working to develop technical capabilities and unique process flows for its customers’ integration of MEMS microphones and speakers directly into VR and AR devices, enabling spatial audio experiences that precisely match the simulated environment .
Of course, producing these incredibly high-resolution yet ultra-compact displays at a commercially viable scale and cost is no easy feat. Silex has had to overcome considerable manufacturing and technical hurdles, not to mention geopolitical tensions that limit technology transfer.
The company is owned by a Chinese parent company, Sai Microelectronics, which acquired Silex in 2015. However, export controls prohibit Silex in Sweden from exporting its know-how and technology to the parent company in China. Extensive safeguards and regulatory compliance procedures protect Silex’s cutting-edge work from unauthorized dissemination.
Nonetheless, Kälvesten remains optimistic about the future, perhaps because he sees the MEMS industry itself as being on an inexorable growth trajectory.
The potential applications of MEMS foundry extend far beyond virtual reality. Kälvesten explains that, for example, “optical switching is now the largest application for Silex customers,” Kälvesten said, adding that optical switches are replacing electrical switches in data centers to communicate between microprocessors. While electrical switches rely on electrical signals for data transmission, optical switches use light signals for faster and more efficient communication.
“The MEMS market as a whole is experiencing explosive growth year after year, with new applications constantly emerging,” he said.