Microvision Lands $4 Million Projector Engine Order With Pioneer

The order caps Microvision’s development program with Pioneer that went public at CEATEC last fall (CED Oct 7 p2) when Pioneer unveiled plans for retail sales in Japan of an automotive head-up display built around the MEMS projector. Pioneer shrank a black box it previously used into a device that could be built into a sun visor-size space on the driver’s side. The MEMS projector is built around a Microvision’s 1.37x 0.78x 0.24-inch second generation light engine that delivers 1,280 x 720 resolution, 15-25 lumens and 3:1 contrast ratio. That’s a change from an earlier 1.57 x 0.79x 0.24-inch version that had 858 x 480 resolution and 10 lumens.

The Pioneer aftermarket device, due in July, also uses Nichia’s 60-milliwatt direct green laser with a 515-nanometer wavelength. Microvision previously used Osram’s frequency-doubled green laser in its first-generation branded Show WX projector, the inventory of which is expected to be sold off by Q3 through Amazon and Apple stores, Microvision officials have said. The inventory stood at about $1.3 million as of March 31.

Pioneer partnered with a Japanese cellular operator to deliver data for an “augmented reality” system that overlays route information, intersections and facilities. Pioneer didn’t identify its cellular network partner. NTT Docomo and KDDI are the major operators in Japan. Pioneer demonstrated a projector delivering a 19-inch display about 1.5 to two meters ahead of the windshield. Pioneer is limiting distribution of the product to Japan, but has options to expand to international markets, Tokman said. Toshiba and STMicroelectronics have developed custom ASICs for Microvision’s projector, but it wasn’t clear which chip is being used in the Pioneer product.

The change to direct green laser technology was key. The green laser is a single-chip device that simplifies design and manufacturing and costs about 20 percent less than frequency-doubled versions. Frequency-doubled lasers use infrared that’s manipulated to create green light, reducing wavelength. T he conversion of infrared requires that multiple components be held to tight tolerances, making manufacturing more challenging. In addition to the 515-nanometer green, Microvision’s engine has 638-nanometer red and 450-nanometer blue lasers. Microvision also is in talks with two “tier one” automakers about its projector technology, Tokman said. He didn’t identify the automakers, and said there’s been “strong interest directly” from car manufacturers. Microvision has worked with auto parts supplier Visteon in the past.

The turning point for Microvision in shifting to OEM from branded retail product came earlier this year, Tokman said. After Kodak’s filing for bankruptcy, component suppliers “fundamentally modified” terms with smaller customers to require prepayments and consignment, he said. “We had to do that without any assurance that our customers were going to make orders."

The change in distribution strategy to licensing from product sales came as Microvision moved to cut operating expenses 50 percent by Q3, company officials said. To achieve that goal, Microvision put some development projects “on the shelf” for the time being, Tokman said. Among these was one for an eyewear optics design, he said. “I will market this further out,” he said. “It can wait a year and we can still bring it out.” Microvision also cut staff in its Redmond, Wash., and Singapore offices, largely personnel who worked on the Show WX projector, Tokman said. Microvision kept staff involved in the core projector technology, he said. Tokman declined to say how many employees were affected by the changes. As it moved to rein in expenses, Microvision also gained $5 million in equity financing from a private Canadian investor, said Paul Patterson, Microvision vice president-business development, strategic marketing and sales.

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Samsung’s Galaxy Beam smartphone is shipping in international markets, featuring Texas Instruments’ 0.2-inch DLP chip, a Samsung spokesman said. The projector, built into the front of the Android 2.3-based Galaxy Beam and with a 4.3 inch LCD, features 640 x 360 resolution and delivers 15 lumens from LEDs, the spokesman said. The projector is housed in a five cubic centimeter package that’s less than 6mm thick, he said. The Beam is a reprise of a similar model introduced in 2010 that contained lower resolution. The Beam isn’t being distributed in the U.S. yet as cellular carriers were seeking too low a price, the Samsung spokesman said. “The carriers were requesting a low cost version.” The Beam is said to be priced around $500 without a new contract. It will carry “normal smartphone pricing,” the Samsung spokesman said, declining further comment.

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EMagin started running a new proprietary OLED deposition machine in its Hopewell Junction, N.Y., factory, producing 0.8-inch microdisplays with 800x600 resolution for the U.S. Army’s as thermal weapons program, Chief Financial Officer Paul Campbell said. The machine cost about $4 million to put into operation, he said. Production at Hopewell Junction will transition to the new machine over the next month or two and will continue to use eight-inch wafers to make the displays, Campbell said. The installation of the equipment capped a two-year delay-laden quest to upgrade the factory, he said. EMagin had planned to start installing the gear a year ago, but delayed the project to better customize the equipment, Campbell said. “We needed to have the machine last year, but we wanted to keep it proprietary and that throws another whole wrinkle into the process,” he said. “It also didn’t meet some of the specs that first time through so we had to get some additional parts.” With the new machine’s better yields, eMagin will likely scale back what had been 24-hour production, Campbell said. The new equipment also will “significantly increase” production volume at the plant and comes as eMagin builds samples of a new 0.48-inch display with 1024x768 resolution for digital camera electronic viewfinders, he said. The device, which will replace a 0.9-inch model with 800x600 resolution, is expected to be built into products by year-end, eMagin said. “Even though we already sell an electronic viewfinder into that market, this will be much lower cost and smaller,” Campbell said. “Camera makers are the ones that told us this is the size and resolution they wanted. That seems to be a common need."

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Corning started production of flexible LCD glass substrates on 300-meter long rolls at its Harrodsburg, Ky. factory, Flexible Glass Program Coordinator Dipak Chowdhury said. The flexible line, housed in an expanded portion of the Harrodsburg facility, uses the equivalent of a fifth-generation LCD process to produce glass that will likely initially be used for tablet-like devices, he said. The flexible glass is produced using one-meter-wide rolls, but smaller 50- and 30-centimeter-wide versions are expected to be available by October for pilot line use at customer facilities, Chowdhury said.

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Though Corning has struggled gaining customers for its Gorilla TV cover glass -- Sony is its only customer -- the company is not giving up on that business, said David Velasquez, director of marketing and commercial operations for Gorilla glass. Corning has a strong base for Gorilla glass in smartphones and tablets and introduced an 8mm-thick version at the last CES. Production of Gorilla glass has now shifted to that 8mm-thick version from the earlier 1.1mm, Velasquez said. “We are repositioning part of the business as being for large-form -factor displays, not just TV cover glass,” Velasquez said. “We are not walking away from the TV form factor, but it hasn’t developed as we had hoped it would. The further you get away from preventing something from being damaged by being dropped or scratched, the harder the proposition. Trying to get customers excited about putting an extra piece of glass on the front of a TV isn’t easy.”