Meta (formerly Facebook)'s flagship AR project Orion is the first to adopt silicon carbide etched waveguide technology, leading the industry's technological revolution. Silicon carbide substrate, with a high refractive index of 2.4 or higher (glass substrate has a refractive index of about 1.6~2.0), can significantly expand the optical field of view and support better AR optical display performance, which is of decisive significance for realizing AR devices in the form of ordinary glasses. Silicon carbide materials not only significantly reduce equipment weight, but also enhance optical transparency, while improving display brightness and color performance, solving multiple technical bottlenecks faced by traditional optical waveguides.

It is worth noting that silicon carbide substrates are divided into conductive and semi insulating types, and only semi insulating substrates are suitable for manufacturing optical waveguides. At present, the annual production capacity of semi insulating silicon carbide wafers worldwide is only about 100000 pieces, far below the potential demand of the AR/AI glasses market. This supply-demand imbalance will become a key bottleneck for the development of the industry, and also bring huge market opportunities for enterprises that master the manufacturing technology of semi insulating silicon carbide substrates.

The manufacturing process of optical waveguides is also continuously innovating. Traditional SRG optical waveguides mainly use nanoimprint technology, which involves applying a resin coating on the substrate, transferring the grating through template imprinting, and then curing the resin with ultraviolet light. Although this process is mature and suitable for mass production, it has obvious limitations: the low refractive index of the resin limits the improvement of the field of view, direct contact technology is prone to processing errors, and achieving good full-color display usually requires stacking multiple waveguide plates, which is not conducive to the lightweighting of AR glasses.

In contrast, etching process creates micro nano structures by directly removing materials on the substrate, which can be combined with high refractive index wafer materials (such as silicon carbide) to achieve larger field of view and better optical performance. It is fully compatible with existing semiconductor processing technology, with higher processing accuracy and module stability. Although the cost of etching process is currently high, with large-scale application and process optimization, this problem is expected to be significantly improved. The breakthrough in silicon carbide substrate and etching process is the technological foundation for significant progress in optical waveguides in terms of field angle, rainbow pattern control, brightness performance, and other aspects in recent years.

The Rise of China's Silicon Carbide Industry Chain

Faced with this technological change, Chinese enterprises are catching up and comprehensively laying out the silicon carbide optical waveguide industry chain. In the field of upstream semi insulating silicon carbide substrate materials, enterprises such as Tianyue Advanced and Jingsheng Electromechanical have the ability to provide high-quality semi insulating silicon carbide substrates, providing a solid material foundation for the domestic optical waveguide industry.

According to XR Research Institute, Tianyue's advanced silicon carbide optical waveguide substrate has received orders from domestic and foreign customers. Overseas customers such as M * * and domestic customers such as H **** are expected to become the first batch of silicon carbide manufacturers to mass produce and ship, marking that China has reached international standards in the field of AR optical key materials.

As a leading enterprise in the field of semiconductor materials and equipment in China, Jingsheng Electromechanical focuses on the three major semiconductor materials of silicon, silicon carbide, and sapphire, and is actively promoting industry technological innovation and domestic substitution of equipment throughout the entire industry chain. As these enterprises accelerate their capacity expansion, China is expected to significantly alleviate the supply-demand imbalance of global semi insulating silicon carbide substrates in the next three years.

Chinese companies have also made significant breakthroughs in the manufacturing of silicon carbide optical waveguides. Shunyu Aolai, GoerTek, Kunyou Optoelectronics, and Guangna Siwei have fully mastered the silicon carbide etching process and possess the technical strength to manufacture high-performance AR glasses optical waveguides.

According to XR Research Institute, Sunny Aolai (a subsidiary of Sunny Optics) has completed the procurement of ASML lithography machines and is expected to become the world's first manufacturer to achieve mass production of silicon carbide etching through ASML lithography machines. This marks a major breakthrough for Chinese companies in optical waveguide manufacturing technology.

As one of the most active manufacturers in China to layout the AI+XR track, GoerTek recently exhibited its full-color waveguide display module Star G-E1 for the first time at the internationally renowned XR event SPIE AR | VR | MR. This is a surface relief grating (SRG) optical waveguide, upgraded from traditional nanoimprinting to cutting-edge etching techniques. Paired with a MicroLED full-color optical machine (based on X-cube color matching), the Star G-E1 achieves a peak brightness of 5000 nits, with a brightness uniformity of over 45% and a color difference of less than 0.02. This waveguide chip adopts a single-chip full-color design with a thickness of only 0.7mm. The picture color is brilliant and the brightness performance is excellent, which can meet the needs of all-weather use. According to XR Research Institute, GoerTek can manufacture AR glasses optical waveguides based on glass or silicon carbide substrates according to customer needs.

Domestic manufacturers actively layout, China is expected to achieve leadership

Chinese AR glasses manufacturers are actively deploying silicon carbide optical waveguide technology. Huawei, Xiaomi, Rokid, XREAL, and Thunderbird are expected to launch consumer grade products using silicon carbide etched optical waveguides in the next 1-2 years, accelerating the evolution of AR glasses towards the ultimate form of "extreme thinness, full-color high-definition, display sensing integration".

Zhu Dianrong, Chief Strategy Officer of Feihong Research Institute, pointed out that the development of silicon carbide and etching technology will significantly improve the user experience of AR glasses, effectively solve the pain points of heavy AR glasses, small field of view, and insufficient brightness, and accelerate the expansion of AR glasses from the professional market to the consumer market. According to XR Research Institute's prediction, the global annual shipment of AR/AI glasses will exceed 130 million pairs by 2030, giving rise to trillion dollar emerging markets. Chinese companies are building a global competitive advantage through continuous investment and innovation in silicon carbide materials and etching processes, and are expected to achieve a breakthrough in this strategic emerging field.