industry news
Subscribe Now

Compound Photonics Partners with GLOBALFOUNDRIES to Manufacture World’s First Monolithic Microdisplay for Real-Time AR

Chandler, Ariz., and Santa Clara, Calif., March 10, 2021 – Compound Photonics US Corporation (CP, also known as CP Display), a leader in microdisplay solutions for Augmented/Mixed Reality (AR/MR), and GLOBALFOUNDRIES® (GF®), the world’s leading specialty foundry, today announced a strategic partnership to manufacture IntelliPix™, CP’s microdisplay technology platform. IntelliPix enables a truly real-time holographic consumer AR experience by enabling smaller and lighter AR glasses that last longer on a single charge. IntelliPix provides a real-time video pipeline, coupled with a fully integrated digital backplane and driver for pixels as small as 2.5µm, for the first time in a single-chip solution. CP’s proprietary IntelliPix technology is realized on GF’s best-in-class 22FDX™ specialty semiconductor platform.

Through the industry-leading partnership, CP and GF are kicking off development of a series of cutting-edge custom solutions on GF’s 22FDX platform to enable IntelliPix’s flexible architecture that provides a software-defined and scalable feature set. The overall advancement in IntelliPix supports up to 100 times faster modulation while consuming 4 to 12 times less system power across the video pipeline, compared to CP’s previous platforms, while unlocking the real potential for amplitude liquid crystal on silicon (LCoS), emerging microLED and future phase-based holographic systems.

By intelligently focusing only on changing pixels, IntelliPix is directed to pixels that are active, while conserving power in inactive pixel regions, resulting in high image quality and brightness, while significantly lowering the overall display subsystem power (OnDemand Pixels™). By leveraging the high-performance, ultra-low power, and broad feature integration capability of GF’s 22FDX platform, CP is able to deliver IntelliPix’s smart pixel digital backplane integrated with its proprietary real-time video pipeline at high frame rates and low latency all in one single chip with no compromises in display area, cost or power consumption to meet the critical requirements for widespread consumer AR.

“GF is an ideal partner for IntelliPix, our next-generation monolithic display,” said Ian Kyles, vice president of engineering at CP. “Their industry-leading 22FDX platform offers the low-power benefits, density, and interconnect features that enable our latest set of innovations, and their willingness to customize additional features for our display simplifies our manufacturing flow.”

To date, GF’s 22FDX  solutions have realized $4.5 billion in design wins, with more than 350 million chips shipped to customers around the world.

“We are proud to partner with Compound Photonics, and leverage our world-class technology to help bring their game-changing IntelliPix platform to volume production,” said Mike Hogan, senior vice president and general manager of Automotive, Industrial and Multi-market at GF. “The breakthrough design of IntelliPix, which only activates the pixels that need refreshing, is a natural match with our 22FDX platform, which is unrivaled in the industry as an ultralow-power solution with excellent memory density and integration capabilities to support a range of future-forward applications.”

For emerging microLED pixel technology, IntelliPix-iDrive™ can be configured with a constant current pixel drive optimized to deliver pixel to pixel uniformity supported with a software-defined drive scheme and a MIPI interface. IntelliPix also provides an IntelliPix-vDrive™ configuration as a voltage/charge driven pixel optimized for driving LC based pixels for both amplitude and phase/holographic light modulation. The OneChip™ physical design of IntelliPix eliminates traditional distinctions between display pixel drive (backplane) and display driver IC (DDIC) functions to reduce the overall physical volume and power consumption while enabling cutting-edge features. The partnership between CP and GF enables a customized Intellipix architecture based on a vDrive or iDrive modulated backplane/display configured to customer specifications.

The IntelliPix microdisplay technology platform is customizable for resolutions up to 2048 x 2048 and beyond. Expect the first commercial products featuring CP’s IntelliPix to be on the market in 2023.

During SPIE ARVRMR in March 28-31, 2021, CP will present IntelliPix™ at the Industry Talk session and discuss how the technology platform presents the opportunities for the industry to accelerate the mainstream AR adoption.

About Compound Photonics

Compound Photonics (CP), also known as CP Display, is a leading provider of compact high resolution microdisplay technologies. CP’s microdisplay solutions are optimized to serve the augmented reality and mixed reality markets where high performance, small form factor, and low power consumption are most critical. Compound Photonics’ microdisplays enable engineers to innovate and create game-changing consumer and industrial products that can greatly enhance people’s productivity and lifestyle.

About GLOBALFOUNDRIES

GLOBALFOUNDRIES (GF) is the world’s leading specialty foundry. GF delivers differentiated feature-rich solutions that enable its customers to develop innovative products for high-growth market segments. GF provides a broad range of platforms and features with a unique mix of design, development and fabrication services. With an at-scale manufacturing footprint spanning the U.S., Europe and Asia, GF has the flexibility and agility to meet the dynamic needs of customers across the globe. GF is owned by Mubadala Investment Company. For more information, visit www.globalfoundries.com.

Leave a Reply

featured blogs
Mar 28, 2024
'Move fast and break things,' a motto coined by Mark Zuckerberg, captures the ethos of Silicon Valley where creative disruption remakes the world through the invention of new technologies. From social media to autonomous cars, to generative AI, the disruptions have reverberat...
Mar 26, 2024
Learn how GPU acceleration impacts digital chip design implementation, expanding beyond chip simulation to fulfill compute demands of the RTL-to-GDSII process.The post Can GPUs Accelerate Digital Design Implementation? appeared first on Chip Design....
Mar 21, 2024
The awesome thing about these machines is that you are limited only by your imagination, and I've got a GREAT imagination....

featured video

We are Altera. We are for the innovators.

Sponsored by Intel

Today we embark on an exciting journey as we transition to Altera, an Intel Company. In a world of endless opportunities and challenges, we are here to provide the flexibility needed by our ecosystem of customers and partners to pioneer and accelerate innovation. As we leap into the future, we are committed to providing easy-to-design and deploy leadership programmable solutions to innovators to unlock extraordinary possibilities for everyone on the planet.

To learn more about Altera visit: http://intel.com/altera

featured chalk talk

USB Power Delivery: Power for Portable (and Other) Products
Sponsored by Mouser Electronics and Bel
USB Type C power delivery was created to standardize medium and higher levels of power delivery but it also can support negotiations for multiple output voltage levels and is backward compatible with previous versions of USB. In this episode of Chalk Talk, Amelia Dalton and Bruce Rose from Bel/CUI Inc. explore the benefits of USB Type C power delivery, the specific communications protocol of USB Type C power delivery, and examine why USB Type C power supplies and connectors are the way of the future for consumer electronics.
Oct 2, 2023
23,151 views