Tiny RGB projector handles AR/VR display tasks

ColorChip introduces a highly innovative, ultra-compact, efficient RGB Pico-Projector based on a patented PLC SystemOnGlass (SOG) platform, advancing the core-technology eco-system required for Tethered and Standalone AR/VR SmartGlasses, where stringent demands on power efficiency and compactness are paramount.

The Augmented and Virtual reality market (AR/VR) is poised to pass a potential market inflection point in 2020, particularity if Apple SmartGlasses are launched towards the end of the year. AR/VR is set to introduce a dramatic forth wave of consumer technology where advances in mobile AR/VR hardware and software will enable Ironman-like tethered and standalone SmartGlasses to complement and gradually replace mobile phones, driving a market from 10’s of millions of users in 2021 to more than a billion users by 2022-2023.

To support this market, ColorChip introduces a breakthrough RGB Pico-Projector addressing the needs of ultra-compactness, device efficiency, and cost-effectiveness. The projector integrates ColorChip’s ColorMux RGB Beam Combiner with a MEMS scanner. The ColorMux RGB Beam Combiner is based on ColorChip’s proprietary and patented optical waveguides embedded in a glass Planar Lightwave Circuit (PLC) and SystemOnGlass (SOG) integration & assembly technology. ColorChip’s glass PLC platform is superior to other mediums as it supports the full spectrum of light from visible to infrared, is inherently low loss enabling high brightness display and includes a true integrated beam combiner to enable a speckle-free, high-resolution image. ColorChip’s SOG integration technology enables high RGB laser coupling efficiencies and true power monitoring. The result is an ultra-compact display solution that is highly efficient, requires low power consumption, provides a high-quality image and is ready for high volume, cost-sensitive applications.

Leveraging low-loss embedded optical waveguides in PLC glass with only 0.1dB/cm propagation loss and very high laser coupling efficiencies of the SOG platform, ColorChip’s RGB pico-projector is the ideal platform for applications where high efficiency is a primary need. By embedding the RGB beam combiners in the glass PLC chip, a low part count, ultra-compact 2.5×5 mm combiner can be achieved which eliminates the need for complex and expensive packaging and easily fits on the arm of the SmartGlasses. Currently available RGB combiners are based on bulk optical beam combiners, free space coupling, and collimating lenses, requiring hermetic/semi-hermetic solutions that result in bulky, complex and expensive packages that don’t fit the glasses arm.

Equally important, by duplicating the ColorMux® RGB beam combiner, ColorChip’s RGB projector can expand the Field Of View (FOV) to as high as 100 degrees, easily meeting the requirements of SmartGlasses applications providing a solution far superior to alternative approaches.

ColorChip’s Planar Lightwave Circuit and SystemOnGlass™technology is designed for simplicity of integration and manufacturing, providing a cost effective modular platform for a variety of applications. By leveraging production facilities originally developed for existing FTTH and Transceiver product lines, ColorChip’s ColorMux RGB Beam Combiner is ready today to support applications including RGB Pico-Projectors, Head-up displays (HUD) and Smart projection with a capacity of >20 million chips per year with expansion to >100 million chips by 2021. ColorChip has provided ColorMux® RGB Beam Combiner samples to several leading consumer electronic suppliers and are collaborating on the next generation design.