Key Challenges of Wafer Level Optics for Manufacturers
Wafer-level optical technology is
expected to play a significant role in determining the direction of sensing
devices, machine vision, and AIoT. Manufacturing micro-optic components for sensing
applications, such as light guides and refractive and diffractive optical
elements, has already revolutionized fields including automotive, healthcare,
consumer electronics, and industrial automation.
Electronic devices that are small and powerful, like tablets, smartphones, and wearables, have seen a sharp increase in demand in recent years. Due to this trend, wafer-level optics (WLO), which provide a convenient and affordable method of integrating electronic circuits onto optical components, are in high demand. The creation of more advanced and compact electronic devices is made possible by WLO's ability to miniaturize optical components. Thus, these types of technology positively influence the global wafer-level optics market. The Global Wafer Level Optics Market revenue was around US$ 632.4 million in 2022 and is estimated to reach US$ 24,904.8 million by 2031, growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 51.07% over the projection period from 2023 to 2031.
Tool Manufacture Challenge
Any efficient technology for mass-producing optics must rely on
an efficient replication process, and a replication process necessitates the
use of a master tool. The final lens will not fulfill quality standards for
accuracy and polish if the reproduction tool does not. Therefore, the
successful production of high-quality lenses depends on tool manufacture. The
mastering technology must be able to create a tool with high form accuracy,
surface finish, reproducibility of lens shapes across a large wafer tool,
positioning accuracy of the individual lenses on the wafer tool, and highly
aspheric, high-NA lenses with large sags for wafer-level optics manufacturing.
Replication Challenge
Before the widespread adoption of wafer-level duplicated lenses
can be achieved, further difficulties beyond tooling must be resolved. The
lens's compatibility with reflow, or its ability to tolerate temperatures
between 240°C and 280°C for around two seconds, may be of utmost importance
because it enables the mounting of the camera module concurrently with the
mounting of the phone's electronic components. Furthermore, sunlight, UV light,
humidity, and hot-cold cycles must all be resistant to the lenses.
Requirement of Efficient Design
Although the fundamentals of optical design for wafer-level
cameras are comparable to conventional optical design, a significant shift in
strategy is necessary to improve the performance and yield of wafer-level
devices. Typically, a statistical tolerance analysis is used to design optics
to predict expected yield, which ultimately decides the cost of the optics. For
estimating and maximizing yields, a different strategy is needed for analyzing
a wafer-level camera made up of one or more wafers stacked on top of an
image-sensor wafer because, during testing, the failure of a lens indicates the
failure of the entire camera.
The Overall Cost of Ownership
Calculating the total cost of ownership entails assessing
factors such as throughput, process costs, yields, and other factors that have
an impact on the overall cost of producing the finished product. Numerous
interdependent factors are taken into account in these calculations for
wafer-level camera modules, and these factors have a big impact on the result.
The findings employing a 1.3- and 3-megapixel wafer-level lens system are
illustrated using a simplified wafer optics replication, bonding, stacking,
singulation, and testing process.
Metrology Challenge
The characterization of each lens element and the overall lens system's picture quality must be addressed by the metrology of optical lens systems. Traditionally, a profilometer is used to assess the form accuracy of each of a lens element's refractive surfaces. The most used types of profilometers are contact stylus and noncontact white-light interferometer systems.
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