Waveguide Manufacturing

Magic Leap’s manufacturing process combines proprietary machines and integrated workflows to deliver consistent and high-quality waveguides.

Preparing for Manufacturing

Materials and Substrates

Every waveguide begins with its foundation: the glass wafer substrate. This structural base layer is where all materials are applied and patterned during the manufacturing process. The substrate’s quality and preparation directly influence waveguide performance and manufacturing stability downstream.

Material and Substrate Preparation

Incoming Substrates

Wafers are sourced from qualified suppliers in optical-grade glass and prepared with design-specified coatings.

Surface Cleaning

Wafers undergo ultrasonic cleaning to remove particles and residue. Cleaning controls are tuned to prepare a smooth, clean surface for processing.

Adhesion Preparation

A thin adhesion-promoting layer is applied to the wafer. This proprietary material helps ensure patterning materials bond reliably.

Inspection and Readiness

Prepared wafers are inspected for defects before moving downstream. Only wafers that meet quality thresholds advance to the lithography process for replication.

Creating Optical Designs

Lithography and Etching

This stage is at the core of our waveguide manufacturing workflow. Our proprietary lithography equipment works in conjunction with a plasma etching process, which replaces what traditionally requires multiple separate steps. Design-driven software manages patterning, transfer, and refinement to reduce variability and maintain nano-patterning repeatability.

Lithography and Etching Process

J-FIL: Printed Replication

Our proprietary Jet and Flash Imprint Lithography (J-FIL) process prints photoresist onto wafers using ink droplets as small as a trillionth of a liter, forming extremely precise waveguide patterns and minimizing material waste.

Template Transfer

A polymer template carrying the waveguide pattern is pressed into wet photoresist and then UV-cured, locking nanoscale features into place before etching begins.

Material Etching

A replicated pattern is etched through the photoresist into a durable titanium dioxide (TiO2) layer on the original substrate, permanently defining the optical structure.

Spincoating Layer

A material is applied over the etched surface to smooth features, reduce visual artifacts, and support optical performance.

Product Fulfillment

Testing and Finishing

Once waveguides are complete at the wafer level, custom testing and metrology verify design performance against customer requirements. They then go through final inspections to ensure each waveguide meets functional, visual, and handling standards.

Verification and Delivery

Custom Optical Testing

We test our waveguides using projection systems that can be specially configured to our partners' unique design needs, like light engine requirements and field-of-view specifications.

Performance Evaluation

Defined optical features are tested against pass/fail criteria. Additional sampling assesses how optical elements interact, verifying brightness, uniformity, and image fidelity across the waveguide.

Cutting and Finishing

Functional wafers are cut into individual waveguides, finished with contrast-enhancing edge blackening treatments, and inspected for cosmetic quality.

Packaging and Shipping

Shipping solutions are prototyped in-house to accommodate varying product configurations, including full wafers and individual waveguides.