Pixelligent’s high-refractive index PixNIL® nanocomposite formulations incorporating ZrO2, TiO2, or TiO2-ZrO2 coreshell nanoparticles showcase robust nanoimprinting capabilities for surface-relief gratings tailored for extended reality (XR) applications. Thin films exhibit refractive indices ranging from 1.7 to 2.0 @ 589 nm while delivering more than 95% transmission and less than 0.1% haze, attributed to the excellent control over particle size, shape, and surface of the proprietary PixClear® and PixCor™ nanocrystals. While the optical properties of Pixelligent’s nanocrystal dispersions and formulations have been widely reported, less attention has been given to their excellent processability. For XR devices to realize mass market adoption, high yield, robust manufacturing processing, and excellent device reliability must be achieved. In this paper the processability of Pixelligent’s already easy-to-use formulations is reported. PixNIL® ST13A provides a broad soft-bake process window for thin films with a thickness of less than 300nm. Furthermore, PixNIL® formulations extend the usable lifetime of working stamps to over 25 imprints. This paper presents a thorough evaluation of the novel nanoimprint formulation, ST13A, demonstrating significant advancements and introducing a new approach to address key challenges in nanoimprint technologies. The analysis encompasses crucial aspects of the nanoimprinting process, including replication fidelity and soft-bake process window.
Nanoparticles such as titanium dioxide (TiO2) with high refractive index values of 2.0 in the visible light spectrum are increasingly being sought after for applications in XR waveguide designs for improvements in field of view (FOV). Pixelligent’s PixNIL® formulations with PixClear® TiO2 nanocrystals can create diffractive optical elements and planarized films with refractive index values of up to 2.0 at 520 nm. With the introduction of high refractive index formulations with PixCor™, a new line of nanocrystals using Pixelligent’s proprietary "Core-Shell" technology, we offer significantly improved resistance to near-UV and UVA light exposures in nanoimprintable formulations. The films containing PixCor™ technology maintain very high transparency and low haze in the visible light spectrum and demonstrate high refractive index of 1.9 at 520 nm, and low absorbance, all while maintaining nanoimprintability at commercial scale.
In ever-evolving XR device designs, constant improvements are being made to the performance of the various optical and sensing components. One of the key materials to enable these improvements are ultra-high refractive index resins that not only provide a boost in efficiency in the visual light spectrum (400 – 700 nm), but also near-infrared (NIR) wavelengths (800 – 1550 nm). Today, using Pixelligent’s PixNIL™ Titanium Dioxide (TiO2) nanocrystal formulations in acrylate-based resins systems, one can create optical architectures and planarized films with refractive index values of 1.95 to 2.00 at 550 nm. These formulations reach such high RI values with the proper tuning of material components and process conditions at specific film thicknesses. Films can be deposited by way of spin-coating and inkjet printing, and, depending on the type of formulation, are imprintable to yield specific structures for various diffractive optical elements such as waveguides. In addition, these films maintain very high transparency in the visible light spectrum and demonstrate very low haze and low absorbance.
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