Exploring the boundaries of large-area nanoimprinting for mass production of AR waveguides

Abstract

Amidst the mixed news surrounding the feasibility of Augmented Reality (AR) smart glasses, the demand for commercially viable mass production of industry-standard optical waveguide combiners remains unwavering. Over the past two years, our consortium of companies has proposed a cost-effective and scalable manufacturing process for Surface Relief Grating (SRG) based waveguides, offering a comprehensive path from concept to fabrication through large-area nanoimprinting. This approach has garnered significant interest from both customers and partners associated with the participating companies. Our aim is to push beyond the established limits of large-area nanoimprinting. In this work we address the obstacles and latest advancements in maintaining imprint quality, fidelity and uniformity during large-area nanoimprinting. We demonstrate various building blocks that are crucial to manufacture high quality and cost-effective AR waveguides, such as the replication of slanted gratings and the possibility of low residual layer thickness using largearea nanoimprint lithography. We employ high refractive index materials, such as resin and glass (1.8, 1.9 and 2.0), and also explore a lighter and flatter version of the RealView 1.9 glass. Our primary objective is to demonstrate that large-area nanoimprinting not only presents itself as a novel method for high-volume manufacturing of SRG waveguides but also enables the production of challenging optics for AR smart glasses.