Meta’s ambitious Orion AR glasses prototype is anything but cheap, with each pair costing a staggering $10,000 to produce. The hefty price tag mainly comes from the custom silicon carbide waveguide lenses, though Meta suggests there’s potential to bring those costs down significantly in the future.
Silicon carbide isn’t new to the scene; it’s primarily used as a substrate for high-power chips because of its superior power efficiency and lower heat output compared to silicon. However, manufacturing silicon carbide is complex, involving challenging material properties, intricate crystal growth processes, and sophisticated fabrication techniques.
A silver lining in reducing costs is the electric vehicle industry, which has been pivotal in driving down silicon carbide expenses. Despite these advances, achieving price parity with silicon-based alternatives remains distant. Moreover, while silicon carbide has tantalizing possibilities in quantum computing, that application comes with its own set of hurdles, separate from Meta’s aspirations for the material.
For Meta, the key attraction of silicon carbide isn’t limited to its power efficiency or heat management. Instead, it’s the material’s high refractive index, making it perfect for creating clear and expansive field-of-view (FOV) waveguides tailored for AR glasses. The Orion glasses, boasting a stunning 70-degree FOV, are an example of this. Those who’ve tried them note the stark contrast between conventional glass waveguides and these advanced silicon carbide versions.
Pasqual Rivera, an Optical Scientist, describes the experience vividly. “With glass-based waveguides, it felt like you were at a disco—distracting and rainbow-filled, making it hard to focus on the AR content,” Rivera explains in a blog. “Switching to the silicon carbide waveguides was like moving to a serene symphony, allowing a full appreciation of what we’re building. It was a transformative shift.”
Electric vehicle manufacturers have leaned heavily into silicon carbide chips over the years, contributing to a notable decline in costs. Giuseppe Calafiore, Reality Lab’s AR Waveguides Tech Lead, acknowledges this shift: “Thanks to the electric vehicle boom, there’s an overcapacity now, which has started lowering substrate costs as supply outpaces demand.”
However, the silicon carbide wafers used in EVs aren’t fit for optics, primarily geared toward electrical rather than optical performance, which means re-purposing surplus EV chips isn’t feasible. Yet, Barry Silverstein, Director of Research Science at Reality Labs, sees opportunity ahead.
“Manufacturers are eager to venture into making optical-grade silicon carbide,” Silverstein remarks. “Waveguide lenses require much more material compared to electronic chips, and existing facilities are well-suited to this shift. Larger wafers also mean lower costs, though they up the process complexity. Excitingly, some suppliers have moved from four-inch to eight-inch wafers and are even exploring twelve-inch options, potentially yielding many more AR glasses.”
Silverstein continues, “There’s buzz around silicon carbide’s versatility in electronics and photonics, with potential in quantum computing. The material’s possibilities are vast, and the groundwork laid by the electric vehicle industry shows a path to slashing costs, although much work remains.”
The benefits AR headsets reap from larger industries aren’t unprecedented. For example, the consumer VR headset surge in the early 2010s was largely propelled by affordable displays crafted for smartphones. The Oculus Rift DK2 from 2014 prominently featured a Samsung-branded Galaxy Note 3 display. The tech world has consistently borrowed components from the smartphone realm, from sensors to battery tech, to power XR devices.
While the parallels to smartphone industry benefits are intriguing, leveraging silicon carbide gains from the EV sector for AR glasses isn’t straightforward. Producing photonics-grade silicon carbide remains a specialized endeavor that will take years to scale.
Because of these challenges, Meta isn’t quite ready to commercialize Orion, using it instead as a sort of “internal developer kit.” Nonetheless, Meta aims to launch consumer AR glasses by 2030, pricing them in the range of “phones or laptops,” according to CTO Andrew Bosworth. And while there’s massive consumer interest on the horizon, tech giants like Meta, Apple, Google, Microsoft, and Qualcomm are all vying for dominance in a future where mobile computing seeks to transcend smartphones altogether.
