Full-Color AR Glasses Reach an Inflection Point! JBD Teams Up with Applied Materials and RayNeo to Break Through AR Display Quality Bottlenecks

SHANGHAI, Sept. 22, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- JBD recently announced that their collaboration with RayNeo and Applied Materials, Inc. has achieved a substantial breakthrough in the display quality of full-color waveguide AR glasses. The results are first commercialized in the RayNeo X3 Pro, markedly elevating the visual performance of consumer-grade waveguide AR glasses.

For years, full-color waveguide AR glasses have faced persistent technical bottlenecks—color inaccuracies, luminance non-uniformity, and low image quality—that have severely constrained end-user experience and the development of the consumer market. This three-party collaboration integrates each company's strengths across MicroLED microdisplays, image-quality correction, waveguide fabrication, device design, and system integration, delivering a comprehensive upgrade in display quality for full-color waveguide AR glasses.

Technical Synergy to Overcome Waveguide AR Display Bottlenecks

Optics and display architecture are the core determinants of AR visual experience. From early LCoS/DLP + nanoimprint lithography (NIL) multilayer diffractive waveguides, to MicroLED + NIL multilayer diffractive waveguides, and now to MicroLED + etched single-layer diffractive waveguides + system-level image-quality correction, full-color waveguide AR glasses have undergone three generations of technological innovation—achieving concurrent breakthroughs in lightweight design and high image quality.

In the initial stage, full-color waveguide AR glasses commonly paired LCoS or DLP light engines with multilayer NIL diffractive waveguides. As passive-display solutions, LCoS and DLP are constrained by their backlight-based architecture: volumes typically exceeded 1 cm³, making lightweight devices difficult, while elevated background stray light reduced contrast and compromised overall image quality. During this phase, full-color waveguides relied on NIL processes and multilayer structures; however, tight tolerance control of grating features is challenging, introducing stray light during image propagation and resulting in luminance non-uniformity, reduced contrast and resolution, and color distortion—all of which materially degraded perceived image quality.

In the second-generation architecture, the introduction of a more compact MicroLED light engine—only 0.4 cm³—enabled full-color waveguide AR glasses to approach the lightweight threshold required for daily wear. Beyond its clear size advantage, MicroLED's self-emissive nature delivers substantial gains over LCoS/DLP in power consumption, contrast, and resolution. Nevertheless, NIL-based multilayer diffractive waveguides still suffered from thickness and weight drawbacks, while display resolution, stray light, and luminance and color uniformity remained difficult to optimize—forming a bottleneck for product experience.

The third-generation solution achieves across-the-board breakthroughs. Diffractive waveguides adopt an etched manufacturing approach, enabling a single-layer full-color design, further reducing lens thickness and weight. Thanks to the etched approach's advantages in nanometer-scale grating fabrication precision and consistency, stray light is effectively suppressed, yielding significant improvements in image contrast and resolution. Combined with high-refractive-index substrates, etched waveguides excel in optical efficiency, luminance uniformity, and control of rainbow artifacts. On the light-engine side, continued performance gains in MicroLED provide a robust foundation for enhanced visual experience. Most importantly, this third-generation architecture introduces, for the first time, system-level real-time image-quality correction spanning "MicroLED + waveguide." It substantially improves luminance uniformity and color accuracy, effectively mitigates distortion in bright colors and graininess, and meets stringent visual-quality standards.

Real-world comparisons show comprehensive improvements in perceptible display quality with the third-generation architecture: skies in landscape scenes appear more true to life, with higher color saturation and greater clarity; portraits render more delicately with more natural skin tones; and black-and-white checkerboard test patterns exhibit crisper contrast and better luminance consistency, with overall frame uniformity markedly optimized. Collectively, these advances indicate that the display performance of full-color waveguide AR glasses has reached the level required for daily, real-world use.

A Three-Party Collaboration Driving a Quantum Leap in Display Quality

As the representative product of third-generation full-color waveguide AR glasses, the RayNeo X3 Pro leads the industry in several key display technologies: it adopts a single-layer etched diffractive waveguide and integrates a high-brightness MicroLED color light engine, delivering peak in-eye luminance of up to 6,000 nits. Coupled with advanced system-level image-quality correction, it comprehensively refreshes the visual experience of consumer-grade waveguide AR glasses.

Applied Materials leverages its deep semiconductor manufacturing expertise to provide the industry-leading single-layer etched waveguide for the RayNeo X3 Pro. It achieves breakthroughs in critical performance metrics such as optical efficiency, stray-light suppression, rainbow-artifact suppression, and resolution (MTF): optical efficiency is improved by 25% and rainbow-artifact suppression reaches 95%, enabling high-quality imaging even in complex environments.

As a global leader in MicroLED microdisplay technology, JBD supplies the RayNeo X3 Pro with a compact, high-brightness, low-power MicroLED microdisplay, along with the ARTCs system-level image-quality engine. With ARTCs calibration and optimization, global luminance uniformity exceeds 80%, while the color difference (ΔE) is reduced to 0.02, effectively eliminating color distortion and graininess and greatly enhancing image fidelity and visual comfort.

As a pioneering consumer AR glasses brand, RayNeo deeply integrates JBD's and Applied Materials' display and optical technologies. Through system-level optimization and tuning, the RayNeo X3 Pro delivers outstanding performance in brightness, color, and image uniformity, significantly enhancing users' visual perception and overall experience. At the same time, the device remains lightweight and power-efficient, further advancing the practicality of full-color waveguide AR glasses.

Cross-Industry Collaborative Innovation Opens a New Chapter in High-Quality AR

Through collaborative innovation across the value chain, JBD, Applied Materials, and RayNeo have jointly resolved long-standing industry challenges such as color distortion and luminance non-uniformity. This has driven a step change in display quality and provided strong support for the at-scale adoption of full-color AR waveguides. Looking ahead, the three parties intend to continue to deepen cooperation and deliver ongoing breakthroughs in display quality, visual experience, device design, and system integration—accelerating the evolution of full-color AR from "usable" to "truly delightful," and injecting sustained momentum into consumer-market adoption and ecosystem maturation.

About JBD

Founded in 2015, JBD stands at the forefront of technological innovation, revolutionizing the realm of MicroLED microdisplay technology. Renowned for delivering the smallest, brightest, and most energy-efficient micro-display panels, JBD has become a global pioneer in advanced display solutions. From ultra-compact MicroLED displays to state-of-the-art projectors and optical modules, JBD's visionary products are reshaping the future of near-eye display technology. Driven by an unwavering commitment to excellence and innovation, JBD illuminates the path to a brighter, more vibrant digital world.

Explore more about JBD's groundbreaking advancements by visiting their website(www.jb-display.com) or engaging with them on LinkedIn and X (Twitter).

SOURCE JBD