In recent years, the field of lithography machine research and development has always been a key direction for Chinese technology companies to break through. From the perspective of the application scenarios of lithography machine, in addition to manufacturing chips, there are also equipment used for the preparation of optoelectronic materials and devices.
SZWG Optoelectronics Technology Group, a leading optical material technology company in China, previously publicly stated that the lithography machine developed by the company is mainly used for the preparation of optoelectronic materials and devices. In the future, SZWG will continue to update and iterate lithography technology and lithography equipment according to the development needs of the optoelectronic industry. In addition, the company's expansion of light guide product production capacity in the third quarter of last year has prepared production capacity for this year's demand growth, and the current production capacity can basically meet the order demand.
Micro-nano lithography institutions build performance barriers
The lithography machine developed by SZWG is a micro-nano lithography machine. The micro-nano lithography machine can design and manufacture optical devices at the micro-nano scale using the optical characteristics of the material structure.
SZWG is one of the few companies in China that independently masters the production technology of micro-nano lithography machines, and other optical companies basically need to outsource to meet production needs. By mastering the R&D and production of micro-nano lithography machines, the company has established a business system based on lithography machines.
SZWG launched several series of imprinting equipment based on the photoetching machine at the same time. The micro-nano structure mold is made by the photoetching machine, and then the micro-nano structure is formed on the surface of the substrate through the imprinting method. The company has mastered the complete process chain from lithography machine production, to mold manufacturing, and then to material molding. The self-made original version can effectively shorten the design, sample, and batch cycle, ensure stable product quality, and provide strong support for the company's development.
Looking back at the development history of SZWG lithography machine, before 2016, the company was mainly engaged in micro-nano optical products and equipment. After the acquisition of CZHR Material Optical Material Technology Company in 2016, it independently opened up the reflective material business. In 2018, the company established four major business groups: public safety and new printing materials, new consumer electronics materials (original display materials and touch controls), reflective materials, and high-end intelligent equipment.
At present, the company has five major product businesses, namely anti-counterfeiting materials and laser paper, new display optical materials, medium and large size touch products, reflective materials and equipment.
3D naked eye, AR nano grating waveguide lens legs in parallel
Although the design of micro-nano structures and principles are complex, SZWG has already laid out a large number of patents around nano-grating optical waveguide lenses. Moreover, the company has successfully developed the AR nano-grating waveguide lens field by relying on the production and development of micro-nano lithography machines. As far as current technology is concerned, nano-grating optical waveguide lenses are the best choice for lightweight AR glasses.
The characteristic of AR glasses is that the world in front of the user is "half-true", that is, it includes both the real world and the virtual world, and the two "enhance" each other. According to the optical waveguide mode, it can be divided into two types: geometric optical waveguide and diffractive optical waveguide.
Specifically, geometric optical waveguides use traditional optical devices to complete the optical waveguide process, such as prisms and "transflective" mirror arrays. The advantage is that the principle is simple and does not involve micro-nano structures. The disadvantage is that the process is cumbersome and complicated. It is difficult to produce. The diffractive optical waveguide lens uses the micro-nano grating to perform the optical waveguide process, and all operations are implemented on the plane of the micro-nano structure, saving space.
SZWG's technical achievements in the field of micro-nano also laid a solid foundation for the company to enter the field of naked eye 3D display. With the advantages of nano-gratings and light guide plates, the company has combined holographic display and nano-manufacturing technology after several years of continuous efforts to produce metamaterials composed of pixel-type nano-gratings to achieve light field control. The combination of other display screens realizes a dynamic color naked eye 3D display with large field of view, full parallax and high resolution.
In terms of current technological development, the naked eye 3D technology mastered by SZWG can subvert the naked eye 3D display technology based on the cylindrical lens array or the parallax barrier method, solve the problem of visual fatigue, and realize the naked eye light field reproduction.