Article by: STMicroelectronics
STMicroelectronics’ VL53L8 is a direct time-of-flight (dToF) sensor developed through its partnership with Metalenz.
The VL53L8 direct-to-flight time-of-flight (dToF) sensor from STMicroelectronics is an anticipated debut on the market for epitaxial optics developed through its partnership with Metalins, the first company to commercialize meta-optics.
Metalenz’s Harvard-born Meta-optics can replace existing complex, multi-element lenses and provide additional functionality using a single optical unit built into ST’s Time of Flight (ToF) units. The introduction of Metalenz technology into these units delivers performance, strength, size and cost advantages for many consumer, automotive and industrial applications. This is the first time that metasurface technology has been commercially available and used in consumer devices.
Unlike traditional molded and curved lenses, Metalenz’s new optics are completely flat. Planar surface optics are now being fabricated on silicon wafers along with the electronics at the ST semiconductor front-ends for the first time. Epitaxial optics collects more light, provides multiple functions in a single layer, and enables new forms of sensing in smartphones and other devices, while taking up less space. Metalenz’s flat-lens technology replaces some of the optics found in ST’s FlightSense ToF units, which serve applications such as smartphones, drones, robotics and vehicles. In these, ST has sold over 1.7 billion units to date.
“More than a decade of foundational research has brought us to this point. The deployment of meta-optics to the market makes this the first surface-penetrating technology to become commercially available,” said Rob Devlin, co-founder and CEO of Metalenz. to millions of consumers. We’ve made several gains representing the first application of our platform technology and are now designing entire systems around their unique functionality. Our descriptive optics enables exciting new markets and new sensing capabilities in mobile form factors at a competitive price. ”
ST is a pioneer and innovator in ToF sensing technology that uses the speed of light to accurately calculate proximity. The sensor precisely measures the time it takes a photon, traveling at 299,792,458 meters/sec, to travel to and reflect off a surface. From the first ToF sensor, ST and its technology helped revolutionize autofocus in smartphone cameras, and through presence detection and gesture recognition, improved security and energy efficiency in mobile applications and computing.
Perfectly complementing ST’s advanced manufacturing capabilities and ToF technology, the introduction of products incorporating Metalenz’s game-changing Metasurface optics now enables significant energy efficiency, optical performance, and unit size optimization that all deliver benefits across consumer, industrial, and automotive markets,” Eric Aussedat. , executive vice president and general manager of ST Imaging Subgroup. “Initially targeting applications that use near-infrared wavelengths, particularly for 3D sensing, the products we offer with Metalenz are well-suited for applications such as face authentication, camera assist, and LIDAR For consumer, and AR/VR, where depth mapping is required.”
The partnership between Metalenz IP and ST Manufacturing Technology delivers incredible precision and precision in electronics chipmaking to make highly accurate and repeatable meta-optics open up this completely new way of making lenses that combines ultra-high quality with cost-effective manufacturing at scale.
