At the recent “Seeing is Believing” event hosted by the Bay Area SID chapter, Applied Materials speaker Ludovic Godet says they have developed a machine and processes to solve the major challenges in waveguide fabrication. In his presentation, he noted that one of the challenges in fabricating waveguides for AR applications is the trade-off between efficiency and color uniformity. With their new direct etch fabrication tool, they can now achieve both good color uniformity and high efficiency.

Comparison of Molder Polymer, Nano Imprint and Etched waveguide fabrication as a function of efficiency (nits/lm) vs. Color Uniformity (1/u’v’)

Their new 300mm tool is now operational in a Global Foundry fab in Singapore. Godet next turned to myth busting.

• Etched waveguides are expensive – true today – they are available for less than $100, but with volume, they can be much less expensive. Displays have seen market growth of 30X over 20 years and a 30X reduction in price (per sq m?). Etched waveguides can do the same.
• Etched waveguides are much more expensive than Nano Imprint Lithography (NIL). While the CapEx for an etched waveguide solution is more than NIL, once you get to 5M units, the amortized CapEx cost amounts to only an additional $2 per waveguide, making it price competitive with NIL waveguides, but with performance advantages. The near-term target for NIL waveguides is around $30 from perhaps $100 today.

Finally, Godet revealed their AR glasses platform called Margarita. It is very lightweight (<50 g) and offers a full-color 20-degree monocular display and waveguide including integrated push-pull lenses on either side of the waveguide. It uses an LCOS-based Avegant light engine (38 ppd and 3000 nits). Development kits are available for order now.

The next myth he busted was – Surface Relief Gratings (SRG) can’t beat Reflective Waveguides. He noted a weight advantage for SRG (3.4 g vs. 6 g) because of the extra thickness of reflective or geometric waveguides. Secondly, reflective waveguides may plateau at an efficiency of 5000 nits/lumen whereas SRG should be able to go beyond 8000 nits/lumen for 20-degree FOV waveguides.

For larger FOV waveguides, Lithium Niobate and Silicon Carbide (SiC) are being considered. 300mm Lithium Niobate may offer near term benefits if or until SiC can be drastically reduced in price. Nevertheless, Godet showed that they can fabricate etched waveguides in SiC with a sample he brought to the conference.

He concluded by claiming personalized eyewear is now possible with invisible technology. At CES 2026, they will show a variety of lens shapes and styles – all with waveguides that are “impossible” to see.