October 30, 2024
SCIVAX Corporation (Head Office: Kawasaki; President: Satoru Tanaka; hereinafter “SCIVAX”) and Shin-Etsu Chemical Co., Ltd. (Head Office: Tokyo; President: Yasuhiko Saito; hereinafter “Shin-Etsu Chemical”) have developed a technology that enables mass production of the light-source device for 3D sensors, “Amtelus®.” Shipments of evaluation samples of “Amtelus®” will begin in November 2024, and Shin-Etsu Chemical will handle product sales.
To date, SCIVAX has sold the optical lens Platanus®, which uniformly diffuses and irradiates light, for light-source devices used in 3D sensors for a variety of applications, including automotive, contributing to improved sensor performance. Meanwhile, in recent years, the use of 3D sensing technology has expanded and higher integration and functionality have been required; however, with conventional cavity structures, it has been difficult to reduce the mounting area, making this one of the major challenges.
To address this challenge, Shin-Etsu Chemical developed a dicing-capable, high-hardness material that achieves both optical properties and sealing properties to protect the device. By using this material, SCIVAX successfully developed “Amtelus®,” the world’s smallest light-source device incorporating the functions of the optical lens Platanus®. This device has a mounting area of 1 mm2 or less, which is 1/10 that of conventional products, and its thickness is also less than half, achieving a significant reduction in size compared with conventional devices.
The main features of “Amtelus®” are as follows:
● Smallest size
By minimizing the mounting area of the light-emitting device, it can also be applied to AR glasses, smartphones, and other products where installation was previously difficult. In addition, using multiple “Amtelus®” units enables more precise sensing.
● Emission flexibility
The optical lens Platanus®, which offers a high degree of design freedom and can realize a wide variety of irradiation fields, enables wide-area irradiation of 140 degrees or more and high-aspect-ratio irradiation (120 degrees x 30 degrees), among others. By leveraging this technology, it is possible to design “Amtelus®” with various irradiation fields to meet customer requirements.
● Low cost
By applying a nanoimprint process with high mass-productivity to lens manufacturing and using a resin package in which the light source and lens are integrally molded, it offers a significant cost advantage over conventional products.
Shin-Etsu Chemical and SCIVAX are looking ahead to expanding this technology into a wide range of fields, including applications in next-generation life sciences such as vital sensors.
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