Meta Outlines Strategy to Dramatically Lower Costs of Key Next-Gen AR Component

Creating Meta’s Orion AR glasses is quite an investment, with each pair costing around $10,000 to produce. The most expensive part? The customized silicon carbide waveguide lenses. However, Meta is optimistic about finding ways to bring these costs down in the future.

Silicon carbide isn’t new; it’s been primarily used as a substrate in high-power chips due to its superior power efficiency and lower heat output. Yet, producing silicon carbide is no walk in the park. The challenges are rooted in its unique material properties, complex crystal growth process, and tough fabrication requirements.

Interestingly, the push from the electric vehicle industry is helping to reduce costs, although silicon carbide still hasn’t caught up with the more affordable silicon benchmarks. It’s also a potential player in the quantum computing field—but that’s a whole different ball game from what Meta plans for this advanced material.

Meta’s interest in silicon carbide isn’t just about efficiency. They’re drawn to its high refractive index which makes it perfect for crafting clear, expansive waveguides needed for AR glasses—think Orion’s remarkable 70-degree field of view. The experience with Orion’s silicon carbide waveguides is vastly superior to the conventional multi-layered glass waveguides; it’s almost like stepping from a distracting disco to the calm of a symphony, according to Optical Scientist Pasqual Rivera.

In recent years, major electric vehicle manufacturers have started using silicon carbide-based chips, which has helped drive down prices. As Giuseppe Calafiore, Reality Lab’s AR Waveguides Tech Lead, explains, the surplus created by the EV industry has led to a drop in substrate costs.

Though EV silicon carbide wafers aren’t suitable for optical applications since they focus on electrical performance, there’s a growing enthusiasm among suppliers to tap into the potential of optical-grade silicon carbide. Barry Silverstein, Reality Labs’ Director of Research Science, highlights this shift: “Each waveguide lens uses a significant amount of material compared to an electronic chip. Expanding factory capabilities to meet this new demand is essential.”

Silverstein notes that scaling up production could further reduce costs, with suppliers moving from four-inch to eight-inch wafers, and even working toward 12-inch wafers. This transition promises to yield exponentially more glasses—another step toward making AR technology more accessible.

“The industry has woken up to silicon carbide’s potential,” Silverstein adds. “It’s proving its versatility across electronics and photonics, with exciting prospects in quantum computing. We’re seeing possibilities to drastically cut costs, though much work remains.”

This isn’t the first time XR headsets have capitalized on broader industry advancements. In the early 2010s, low-cost smartphone displays helped launch the VR headset market. For instance, the Oculus Rift DK2 utilized a Galaxy Note 3 display panel, complete with Samsung branding.

Smartphone tech has also contributed other vital components over the years like inertial measurement units, cameras, and batteries. However, leveraging the advances in silicon carbide driven by the EV industry for AR glasses is more complex.

While suppliers are exploring photonics-grade silicon carbide, scaling it remains a significant challenge, delaying the transition from prototype to market-ready product. Despite this, Meta is using Orion as an “internal developer kit” with ambitions to release consumer AR glasses before 2030. The goal is to price these glasses on par with smartphones and laptops.

In summary, the potential for consumer interest in AR technology is huge. Companies like Meta, Apple, Google, Microsoft, and Qualcomm are in a race to dominate this future mobile computing platform, envisioning a world where AR glasses could eventually replace smartphones entirely.