Manufacturing method for flexible functional layer, manufacturing method for diffractive optical waveguide and manufacturing method for ar lens

Abstract

A manufacturing method for a flexible functional layer (200), a manufacturing method for a diffractive optical waveguide (1) and a manufacturing method for an AR lens. The manufacturing method for a flexible functional layer (200) comprises: providing a temporary base (100), coating the upper surface of the temporary base (100) with a flexible substrate material, and curing the flexible substrate material to form a flexible substrate layer (210); using a semiconductor process to arrange and process a light transmission inorganic material on the upper surface of the flexible substrate layer (210), so as to form, on the surface of the flexible substrate layer (210), a flexible main body layer (220) comprising at least one light transmission layer (221) to obtain an intermediate combination; and stripping the part of the intermediate combination except the temporary base from the intermediate combination to obtain a target flexible functional layer.

Description

Flexible functional layer, diffractive optical waveguide and AR lens manufacturing method

[0001] CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0002] This application is based on the Chinese patent application with application number 202410259613.0 and application date of March 7, 2024, and claims the priority of the above-mentioned Chinese patent application. The entire content of the above-mentioned Chinese patent application is hereby introduced into this application as a reference. Technical Field

[0003] The present application relates to the field of waveguide technology, and in particular to a method for manufacturing a flexible functional layer, a diffractive optical waveguide, and an AR lens. Background Art

[0004] The light transmission layer of existing resin diffraction waveguides, whether color or monochromatic, is manufactured using a nanoimprint process. This means the material of the light transmission layer is primarily nanoimprint adhesive, which is an organic material. However, the refractive index of organic materials generally cannot be very high, with the highest refractive index of existing nanoimprint adhesives reaching only around 1.9. Therefore, this low refractive index not only results in a smaller field of view for existing diffraction waveguides, but also creates a smaller optical design window for optical designers when designing the diffraction structure of the diffraction waveguide. Furthermore, because the light transmission layer of existing waveguides is made of organic materials, organic materials have poor stability. For example, after prolonged exposure to sunlight or in environments with high UV intensity, the organic materials will yellow, and their volume will also vary significantly at different temperatures. These factors can affect the waveguide performance of existing diffraction waveguides, resulting in poor stability. Summary of the Invention

[0005] The embodiments of the present application provide a method for manufacturing a flexible functional layer, a diffractive optical waveguide, and an AR lens, aiming to solve the technical problems that the existing diffractive optical waveguide uses organic materials to make the light transmission layer, which not only has a small field of view angle and a small optical design window when designing the diffraction structure, but also has poor stability of waveguide performance.

[0006] To this end, the first aspect of the present application provides a method for manufacturing a flexible functional layer, wherein the flexible functional layer is used in a diffraction optical waveguide to realize the diffraction effect of the diffraction optical waveguide on light. The manufacturing method includes the following steps: providing a temporary substrate, coating a flexible substrate material on the upper surface of the temporary substrate, and curing the flexible substrate material to form a flexible substrate layer; using a semiconductor process to arrange and process a light-transmitting inorganic material on the upper surface of the flexible substrate layer to form a flexible main layer including at least one light-transmitting layer on the surface of the flexible substrate layer to obtain an intermediate assembly; and peeling off the portion of the intermediate assembly except the temporary substrate from the intermediate assembly to obtain a target flexible functional layer.

[0007] In some embodiments of the present application, the light-transmitting inorganic material is titanium oxide or zirconium oxide.

[0008] In some embodiments of the present application, the light-transmitting inorganic material is arranged and processed on the upper surface of the flexible substrate layer using a semiconductor process to form a flexible main body layer including at least one light-transmitting layer on the surface of the flexible substrate layer, and the step of obtaining the intermediate assembly includes: using a magnetron vacuum coating method to coat the light-transmitting inorganic material on the upper surface of the flexible substrate layer to form an inorganic material layer on the upper surface of the flexible substrate layer; and using a dry etching process to perform pattern etching on the inorganic material layer to form one of the light-transmitting layers of the flexible main body layer.

[0009] In some embodiments of the present application, the step of pattern-etching the inorganic material layer using a dry etching process to form a light transmission layer of the flexible main layer includes: coating a layer of embossing glue on the upper surface of the inorganic material layer, and performing nano-imprinting to form a mask having a preset pattern; pattern-etching the inorganic material layer using a dry etching device under the mask to transfer the preset pattern on the mask to the inorganic material layer to form a light transmission layer of the flexible main layer.

[0010] In some embodiments of the present application, the flexible main layer also includes a light isolation layer. Before the step of using a magnetron vacuum coating method to coat the light-transmitting inorganic material on the upper surface of the flexible substrate layer to form an inorganic material layer on the upper surface of the flexible substrate layer, the step also includes: coating a light isolation layer material on the upper surface of the flexible substrate layer, and curing the light isolation layer material to form the light isolation layer; the step of using a magnetron vacuum coating method to coat the light-transmitting inorganic material on the upper surface of the flexible substrate layer to form an inorganic material layer on the upper surface of the flexible substrate layer includes: using a magnetron vacuum coating method to coat the light-transmitting inorganic material on the light isolation layer on the upper surface of the flexible substrate layer to form the inorganic material layer.

[0011] In some embodiments of the present application, after the step of pattern etching the inorganic material layer using a dry etching process to form one of the light transmission layers of the flexible main layer, it also includes: coating a light isolation layer material on the upper surface of the light transmission layer, and curing the light isolation layer material to form another light isolation layer.

[0012] In some embodiments of the present application, the flexible main layer includes at least two light transmission layers. After each light transmission layer is formed, a light isolation layer is first formed on the upper surface of the current light transmission layer, and then a new light transmission layer is formed on the upper surface of the light isolation layer.

[0013] In some embodiments of the present application, before the step of peeling off the portion of the intermediate assembly except the temporary substrate from the intermediate assembly to obtain the target flexible functional layer, it also includes: coating a flexible substrate material on the upper surface of the flexible main layer of the intermediate assembly, and allowing the flexible substrate material to solidify to form another flexible substrate layer.

[0014] In addition, a second embodiment of the present application provides a method for manufacturing a diffraction optical waveguide, which includes the following steps: providing a first rigid base layer, and attaching a first adhesive layer to the upper surface of the first rigid base layer; providing a flexible functional layer, and bonding and fixing the flexible functional layer to the first rigid base layer through the first adhesive layer to obtain a target diffraction optical waveguide, and the flexible functional layer is manufactured by the above-mentioned manufacturing method.

[0015] In some embodiments of the present application, after the step of providing a flexible functional layer and bonding and fixing the flexible functional layer to the first rigid base layer through a first adhesive layer, the method further includes: providing a second rigid base layer, attaching a second adhesive layer to the lower surface of the second rigid base layer, and making the lower surface of the second rigid base layer bonded and fixed to the flexible functional layer to obtain a target diffraction optical waveguide.

[0016] In addition, the third aspect of the present application provides a method for manufacturing an AR lens, which includes the following steps: providing a diffraction optical waveguide, which is manufactured by the above-mentioned manufacturing method; cutting the diffraction optical waveguide according to a preset shape to obtain an initial lens; and ink-coating and packaging the edge of the initial lens to obtain a target AR lens.

[0017] The flexible functional layer, diffractive optical waveguide, and AR lens manufacturing method provided by the technical solution of this application are characterized by using a semiconductor process to deposit and process a light-transmitting inorganic material on the upper surface of a flexible substrate layer to form a flexible main body layer comprising at least one light-transmitting layer on the surface of the flexible substrate layer. Specifically, the light-transmitting layer is primarily made of the light-transmitting inorganic material. Compared to existing organic materials, which have a refractive index of at least 1.9, the refractive index of the light-transmitting inorganic material can be much greater than 1.9. Therefore, the light-transmitting layer has a higher refractive index than existing organic materials. Consequently, the flexible functional layer not only effectively expands the field of view of the corresponding diffractive optical waveguide but also provides optical designers with a wider optical design window when designing the diffractive structure of the corresponding diffractive optical waveguide. Furthermore, because the optical transmission layer of the technical solution is made of the light-transmitting inorganic material, the light-transmitting inorganic material does not yellow after exposure to sunlight and strong ultraviolet rays. Therefore, the waveguide performance of the corresponding diffractive optical waveguide is highly stable, significantly extending its service life. It can be seen that this technical solution can solve the technical problems of existing diffraction optical waveguides, which use organic materials to make the light transmission layer, resulting in not only a small field of view angle and a small optical design window when designing the diffraction structure, but also poor stability of the waveguide performance. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0018] In order to more clearly illustrate the embodiments of the present application or the technical solutions in the prior art, the following briefly introduces the drawings required for use in the embodiments or the description of the prior art. Obviously, the drawings described below are only some embodiments of the present application. For ordinary technicians in this field, other drawings can be obtained based on the structures shown in these drawings without paying any creative work.

[0019] FIG1 is a flowchart of a first method for manufacturing a flexible functional layer according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0020] FIG2 is a schematic structural diagram of an intermediate assembly according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0021] FIG3 is a schematic diagram of a first structural example of a flexible functional layer according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0022] FIG4 is a first flow chart of step S120 of the manufacturing method shown in FIG1 ;

[0023] FIG5 is a second flow chart of step S120 of the manufacturing method shown in FIG1 ;

[0024] FIG6 is a schematic diagram of a second structure of a flexible functional layer according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0025] FIG7 is a flowchart of a second method for manufacturing a flexible functional layer according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0026] FIG8 is a flowchart of a first method for manufacturing a diffractive optical waveguide according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0027] FIG9 is a schematic diagram of a first structural example of a diffractive optical waveguide according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0028] FIG10 is a flowchart of a second method for manufacturing a diffractive optical waveguide according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0029] FIG11 is a schematic diagram of a second structure of a diffractive optical waveguide according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0030] FIG12 is a schematic structural diagram of an AR lens according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0031] Explanation of the accompanying drawings: 1. Diffraction optical waveguide; 100. Temporary substrate; 200. Flexible functional layer; 220. Flexible main body layer; 221. Light transmission layer; 222. Light isolation layer; 210. Flexible substrate layer; 300. First rigid substrate layer; 400. First adhesive layer; 500. Second rigid substrate layer; 600. Second adhesive layer.

[0032] The realization of the objectives, functional features and advantages of this application will be further explained in conjunction with embodiments and with reference to the accompanying drawings. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0033] The following will be combined with the drawings in the embodiments of this application to clearly and completely describe the technical solutions in the embodiments of this application. Obviously, the embodiments described are only part of the embodiments of this application, not all of the embodiments. Based on the embodiments of this application, all other embodiments obtained by ordinary technicians in this field without making creative efforts are within the scope of protection of this application.

[0034] It should be noted that all directional indications in the embodiments of the present application are only used to explain the relative position relationship, movement status, etc. between the components in a certain specific posture. If the specific posture changes, the directional indication will also change accordingly.

[0035] In addition, the descriptions of "first", "second", etc. in this application are for descriptive purposes only and should not be understood as indicating or implying their relative importance or implicitly indicating the number of the technical features indicated. Therefore, the features defined as "first" or "second" may explicitly or implicitly include at least one of such features. In addition, the technical solutions between the various embodiments can be combined with each other, but this must be based on the fact that they can be implemented by ordinary technicians in this field. When the combination of technical solutions is contradictory or cannot be implemented, it should be deemed that such combination of technical solutions does not exist and is not within the scope of protection required by this application.

[0036] In one embodiment, as shown in FIG1 , the present application provides a method for manufacturing a flexible functional layer. The manufacturing method may specifically include the following steps:

[0037] Step S110: providing a temporary substrate, coating a flexible substrate material on the upper surface of the temporary substrate, and curing the flexible substrate material to form a flexible substrate layer.

[0038] It is understood that the flexible functional layer produced in the embodiments of the present application can be specifically applied in a diffractive optical waveguide to achieve the diffraction effect of the diffractive optical waveguide on light. That is, the flexible functional layer is the main component of the diffractive optical waveguide. Therefore, the flexible functional layer should include a flexible main layer having a light transmission layer. In order to facilitate the transfer of the completed flexible functional layer from one substrate (i.e., a temporary substrate) to another substrate (i.e., the substrate of the diffractive optical waveguide), the flexible functional layer should also include a flexible substrate layer. Therefore, as shown in Figure 2, when producing the flexible functional layer, a temporary substrate 100 should be provided. A flexible substrate material should be coated on the upper surface of the temporary substrate 100, and the flexible substrate material should be cured to form a flexible substrate layer 210. Since the temporary substrate 100 is only used to temporarily support and fix the flexible functional layer 200, its material can be any material with high temperature resistance, as long as its upper surface is highly flat. The material is preferably a resin material or a glass material. At the same time, before applying the flexible substrate material to the upper surface of the temporary substrate 100, the temporary substrate 100 may be further cleaned to prevent residual particles and other dirt on its upper surface, which could affect the flatness of the upper surface of the temporary substrate 100 and, in turn, the fabrication of the flexible substrate layer 210. The aforementioned flexible substrate material is preferably, but not limited to, a polyimide liquid resin. This allows the fabricated flexible substrate layer 210 to be heat-resistant, colorless, transparent, and highly transmittant. While providing a certain degree of protection for the flexible main body layer 220 through the flexible substrate layer 210, it also prevents the presence of the flexible substrate layer 210 from affecting the light transmission performance of the flexible main body layer 220. After the polyimide liquid resin is applied to the upper surface of the temporary substrate 100, it can be left at a temperature of 150°C to 300°C for several hours before curing to form the corresponding flexible substrate layer 210.

[0039] Step S120: using a semiconductor process to arrange and process a light-transmitting inorganic material on the upper surface of the flexible substrate layer to form a flexible main body layer including at least one light-transmitting layer on the surface of the flexible substrate layer to obtain an intermediate assembly.

[0040] It is understood that after forming a flexible substrate layer 210 on the upper surface of the temporary substrate 100 through the above-described method steps, a flexible main body layer 220 including at least one light transmission layer 221 can be fabricated on the upper surface of the flexible substrate layer 210. When the flexible main body layer 220 includes only one light transmission layer 221, a light transmission inorganic material can be directly disposed and processed on the upper surface of the flexible substrate layer 210 using a semiconductor process to form the flexible main body layer 220 including at least one light transmission layer 221 on the surface of the flexible substrate layer 210. The light transmission inorganic material can specifically be an inorganic material that meets light transmission requirements and has a relatively high refractive index, preferably titanium oxide or zirconium oxide, wherein the refractive index of titanium oxide can be in the range of 2.3 to 2.8, and the refractive index of zirconium oxide can be in the range of 2.1 to 2.3.

[0041] Step S130: peeling off the portion of the intermediate assembly except the temporary substrate from the intermediate assembly to obtain a target flexible functional layer.

[0042] It can be understood that after the intermediate assembly is obtained through the above method steps, the intermediate assembly will include a temporary base 100, a flexible substrate layer 210 and a flexible main layer 220, wherein the temporary base 100 is only used to temporarily support and fix the production of the flexible functional layer 200, so it is necessary to peel off the part of the intermediate assembly except the temporary base 100 from the intermediate assembly to obtain the target flexible functional layer 200 as shown in Figure 3.

[0043] Thus, in the embodiment of the present application, when manufacturing the flexible functional layer of the main part of the diffractive optical waveguide, a semiconductor process is used to arrange and process a light-transmitting inorganic material on the upper surface of the flexible substrate layer to form a flexible main body layer including at least one light-transmitting layer on the surface of the flexible substrate layer. That is, the light-transmitting layer is primarily made of the light-transmitting inorganic material. Compared to the refractive index of existing organic materials, which is only 1.9 at most, the refractive index of the light-transmitting inorganic material can be much greater than 1.9. Therefore, the light-transmitting layer has a higher refractive index than existing ones. Furthermore, the flexible functional layer not only effectively expands the field of view of the corresponding diffractive optical waveguide, but also provides optical designers with a larger optical design window when designing the diffractive structure of the corresponding diffractive optical waveguide. In addition, because the optical transmission layer of the present technical solution is made of the light-transmitting inorganic material, the light-transmitting inorganic material does not yellow after exposure to sunlight and strong ultraviolet rays. Therefore, the waveguide performance of the corresponding diffractive optical waveguide is highly stable, significantly extending its service life.

[0044] In some examples, as shown in FIG4 , the process of performing the above method step of “arranging and treating a light-transmitting inorganic material on the upper surface of the flexible substrate layer using a semiconductor process to form a flexible main body layer including at least one light-transmitting layer on the surface of the flexible substrate layer to obtain an intermediate assembly” is as follows:

[0045] Step S121 : coating a light-transmitting inorganic material on the upper surface of the flexible substrate layer by a magnetron vacuum coating method, so as to form an inorganic material layer on the upper surface of the flexible substrate layer.

[0046] It can be understood that based on the above method steps, when a semiconductor process is used to directly set and process the light-transmitting inorganic material on the upper surface of the flexible substrate layer 210, a magnetron vacuum coating method can be used to coat the light-transmitting inorganic material on the upper surface of the flexible substrate layer to form an inorganic material layer on the upper surface of the flexible substrate layer 210.

[0047] Step S122: performing pattern etching on the inorganic material layer using a dry etching process to form a light transmission layer of the flexible main body layer.

[0048] It can be understood that after an inorganic material layer is formed on the upper surface of the flexible substrate layer 210 through the above-mentioned method steps, the inorganic material layer can be further patterned by a dry etching process to form a light transmission layer 221 of the flexible main body layer 220. The specific process is as follows: first, a layer of imprint glue is coated on the upper surface of the inorganic material layer, and nano-imprinting is performed to form a mask having a preset pattern. The preset pattern can specifically be a pattern of micro-nano structures such as a diffraction grating required for the light transmission layer 221 to diffract and propagate light; then, after the dry etching mask is prepared, the inorganic material layer is patterned by a dry etching device under the mask to transfer the pattern on the mask to the inorganic material layer to form a light transmission layer 221 of the flexible main body layer 220. If necessary, after forming the corresponding light transmission layer 221 on the inorganic material layer, the residual embossing adhesive on the inorganic material layer can be completely ashed to ensure that no embossing adhesive remains on the inorganic material layer, thereby ensuring that the light transmission performance of the corresponding light transmission layer 221 is not affected by the residual embossing adhesive. To further ensure the dry etching effect, before applying a layer of embossing adhesive on the upper surface of the inorganic material layer, an anti-etching layer can be first deposited, and then the embossing adhesive can be applied for embossing. This can improve the etching selectivity during the dry etching process, further ensuring the dry etching effect.

[0049] In this way, through the above method steps, the light transmission inorganic material can be better arranged and processed on the upper surface of the flexible substrate layer using semiconductor technology, so that the formed light transmission layer has a better light diffraction and propagation effect.

[0050] In some examples, as shown in FIG5 , before performing the above method step of “coating the light-transmitting inorganic material on the upper surface of the flexible substrate layer using a magnetron vacuum coating method to form an inorganic material layer on the upper surface of the flexible substrate layer,” the method further includes:

[0051] Step S123: coating a light isolation layer material on the upper surface of the flexible substrate layer, and curing the light isolation layer material to form a light isolation layer.

[0052] It can be understood that in order to make the light in the light transmission layer 221 only undergo total reflection and propagate within the corresponding light transmission layer 221 to reduce energy loss, and at the same time, when there are multiple layers of light transmission layers 221, to avoid crosstalk between the different colors of light in different light transmission layers 221, causing display color distortion, as shown in Figures 2 and 3, the flexible main body layer 220 also includes a light isolation layer 222. In this way, it is necessary to first coat the upper surface of the flexible substrate layer 210 with a light isolation layer material, and solidify the light isolation layer material to form a light isolation layer 222, and then form a corresponding light transmission layer 221 on the light isolation layer 222. At this time, the above-mentioned method step of "using magnetron vacuum coating to coat the light transmission inorganic material on the upper surface of the flexible substrate layer to form an inorganic material layer on the upper surface of the flexible substrate layer" is specifically executed as follows: using magnetron vacuum coating to coat the light transmission inorganic material on the light isolation layer 222 on the upper surface of the flexible substrate layer 210 to form an inorganic material layer. The material of the light isolation layer 222 mentioned above needs to have a sufficiently low refractive index to ensure that light is only transmitted by total internal reflection within the corresponding light transmission layer 221 . Therefore, the refractive index of the material of the light isolation layer mentioned above is preferably between 1 and 1.6.

[0053] In this way, the provision of the light isolation layer 222 can ensure that the light in the corresponding light transmission layer 221 will not leak through the lower surface of the light transmission layer 221, thereby reducing energy loss and light crosstalk, which is beneficial to improving the light efficiency of the flexible functional layer 200.

[0054] In some examples, as shown in FIG5 , after performing the above method step of “patterning the inorganic material layer using a dry etching process to form a light transmission layer of the flexible main body layer,” the method further includes:

[0055] Step S124: coating a light isolation layer material on the upper surface of the light transmission layer, and curing the light isolation layer material to form another light isolation layer.

[0056] It is understood that, based on the above description, to ensure that light within the corresponding light transmission layer 221 does not leak through the upper surface of the light transmission layer 221, a similar light isolation layer 222 can be further provided on the upper surface of the light transmission layer 221, as shown in Figures 2 and 3. That is, a light isolation layer material is coated on the upper surface of the light transmission layer 221 and then cured to form another light isolation layer 222. At the same time, because the diffraction grating structure of the light transmission layer 221 is also provided on the upper surface of the light transmission layer 221, the light isolation layer 222 will also completely fill the interior of the diffraction grating structure during the installation process.

[0057] In this way, the provision of the light isolation layer 222 can ensure that the light in the corresponding light transmission layer 221 will not leak through the upper surface of the light transmission layer 221, thereby further reducing energy loss and light crosstalk, which is beneficial to improving the light efficiency of the flexible functional layer 200.

[0058] In some examples, as shown in FIG6 , the flexible main body layer 220 may specifically include at least two light transmission layers 221. In this case, during the above-described manufacturing method, after each light transmission layer 221 is formed, a light isolation layer 222 is first formed on the upper surface of the current light transmission layer 221, and then a new light transmission layer 221 is formed on the upper surface of the light isolation layer 222. It will be understood that the method for forming each light transmission layer 221 and each light isolation layer 222 is the same, as described above and will not be repeated here. In this way, multiple light transmission layers 221 can be arranged according to actual light transmission needs, and different light rays can be arranged to propagate within independent light transmission layers 221, thereby significantly improving the display performance of the present diffractive optical waveguide 1. At the same time, due to the setting of the light isolation layer 222, the light is only fully reflected and propagated in the corresponding light transmission layer 221, thereby effectively avoiding the crosstalk problem between the light in each light transmission layer 221, so that the display performance of the flexible functional layer 200 is greatly improved, and the energy loss is also less, which is conducive to improving the light efficiency of the flexible functional layer 200.

[0059] In some examples, as shown in FIG7 , before performing the above method step of “peeling the portion of the intermediate assembly except the temporary substrate from the intermediate assembly to obtain the target flexible functional layer”, the method further includes:

[0060] Step S140: coating a flexible substrate material on the upper surface of the flexible main body layer of the intermediate assembly, and curing the flexible substrate material to form another flexible substrate layer.

[0061] It can be understood that, based on the above description, the provision of the flexible substrate layer 210 can facilitate the transfer of the completed flexible functional layer 200 from one substrate to another substrate while providing a certain degree of protection for the flexible main layer 220. Therefore, according to the actual needs of manufacturing the flexible functional layer 200, as shown in Figures 2, 3 and 6, a flexible substrate material can be further coated on the upper surface of the flexible main layer 220 of the intermediate assembly, and the flexible substrate material can be cured to form another flexible substrate layer 210.

[0062] In this way, through the above-mentioned method steps, the upper surface of the flexible main layer 220 of the flexible functional layer 200 finally produced is also provided with a flexible substrate layer 210, so as to facilitate the transfer of the completed flexible functional layer 200 from one substrate to another substrate while ensuring that the upper surface of the flexible main layer 220 will not be affected by the external environment, thereby extending its service life.

[0063] In one embodiment, as shown in FIG8 , the present application provides a method for manufacturing a diffractive optical waveguide. The manufacturing method may include the following steps:

[0064] Step S210: providing a first rigid base layer, and attaching a first adhesive layer to the upper surface of the first rigid base layer.

[0065] It can be understood that the diffraction optical waveguide 1 in this embodiment is mainly used in AR devices to project virtual images to the appropriate position of the user's eyes through the diffraction effect of the flexible functional layer 200 on light, so as to achieve an augmented reality (AR) experience. At the same time, since the diffraction optical waveguide 1 adopts a flexible structure, it is necessary to set a first rigid base layer to ensure its rigidity. Therefore, as shown in Figure 9, when making the diffraction optical waveguide 1, it is necessary to first provide a first rigid base layer 300 and attach a first adhesive layer 400 to the upper surface of the first rigid base layer 300. The main function of the first rigid base layer 300 mentioned above is to ensure that the diffraction optical waveguide 1 has a certain rigidity and does not play a role in propagating light. Therefore, the thickness of the first rigid base layer 300 is generally thicker, and its value is between 0.5mm and 1mm to ensure that it has a certain rigidity. Therefore, the material of the first rigid base layer 300 can preferably be a resin material or a glass material. In this way, the inherent rigidity and transparency of the resin or glass material ensure that the first rigid base layer 300 does not affect the propagation of light within the flexible functional layer 200. Furthermore, the first rigid base layer 300 can be made as thin as possible while maintaining a certain degree of rigidity, thereby reducing the thickness and weight of the diffractive optical waveguide 1. The primary function of the first adhesive layer 400 mentioned above is to bond the first rigid base layer 300 and the flexible functional layer 200 into a single integral body. Specifically, the first adhesive layer 400 can be a light-curing adhesive, a heat-curing adhesive, a solid optical adhesive, a moisture-curing adhesive, or the like.

[0066] Step S220: providing a flexible functional layer, and bonding and fixing the flexible functional layer to the first rigid base layer via a first adhesive layer to obtain a target diffraction optical waveguide. The flexible functional layer is manufactured by the manufacturing method in the above embodiment.

[0067] It is understood that after the first adhesive layer 400 is attached to the upper surface of the first rigid substrate layer 300 through the above-described method steps, the flexible functional layer 200 produced by the production method described in the above embodiment can be bonded and fixed to the first rigid substrate layer 300 via the first adhesive layer 400, thereby obtaining the target diffractive optical waveguide 1 shown in FIG9 . Based on the foregoing description, it can be understood that the flexible functional layer 200 as a whole embodies a flexible structure, that is, each layer thereof is made of a flexible material. Therefore, the thickness of each layer is only a few microns to tens of microns, and the overall thickness is approximately tens of microns to hundreds of microns. This can significantly reduce the thickness and weight of the diffractive optical waveguide 1. Furthermore, the bonding process is a soft-to-hard bonding method, which can better avoid poor bonding, such as residual bubbles, compared to hard-to-hard bonding.

[0068] In this way, the diffraction optical waveguide 1 produced by the above method and steps can be guaranteed to have a certain rigidity by only requiring the first rigid base layer 300 to maintain a certain thickness. This allows the overall thickness of the flexible functional layer 200 to be as thin as possible, generally ranging from tens to hundreds of microns, while ensuring that the diffraction optical waveguide 1 can diffract light. Therefore, the thickness and weight of the diffraction optical waveguide 1 can be greatly reduced, thereby improving the comfort of subsequent consumer use. Furthermore, because the first rigid base layer 300 is bonded and fixed to one side surface of the flexible functional layer 200 via the first adhesive layer 400, the existing diffraction optical waveguide, which uses multiple waveguide sheets framed together, must retain an air layer. This allows the layers of the diffraction optical waveguide 1 to be fully bonded, preventing deformation of the waveguide layer during assembly, which could degrade display performance and result in product defects. At the same time, since the diffractive optical waveguide 1 adopts the flexible functional layer 200 manufactured in the above embodiment, it has the same functions and technical effects as the above flexible functional layer 200, which will not be described in detail here.

[0069] In some examples, as shown in FIG10 , after performing the above method step of “providing a flexible functional layer and bonding the flexible functional layer to the first rigid base layer via the first adhesive layer”, the method further includes:

[0070] Step S230: providing a second rigid base layer, attaching a second adhesive layer to the lower surface of the second rigid base layer, and making the lower surface of the second rigid base layer adhere and fixed to the flexible functional layer to obtain a target diffraction optical waveguide.

[0071] It can be understood that, based on the above description, the provision of the rigid base layer can ensure the rigidity of the diffractive optical waveguide 1 while providing a certain degree of protection for the flexible functional layer 200. Therefore, according to the actual needs of manufacturing the diffractive optical waveguide 1, as shown in FIG11 , a rigid base layer can be further provided on the flexible functional layer 200, a second rigid base layer 500 can be provided, and a second adhesive layer 600 can be attached to the lower surface of the second rigid base layer 500, so that the lower surface of the second rigid base layer 500 is bonded and fixed to the flexible functional layer to obtain the target diffractive optical waveguide. Furthermore, the thickness of the second rigid base layer 500 should be smaller than that of the first rigid base layer 300. This is because, whereas the first rigid base layer 500 requires a certain thickness to ensure the rigidity of the diffractive optical waveguide 1, the second rigid base layer 500 only serves to provide a certain degree of protection for the other side surface of the flexible functional layer 200. Therefore, a thinner thickness can be used to ensure protection for the other side surface of the flexible functional layer 200 without significantly affecting the thickness of the diffractive optical waveguide 1.

[0072] Thus, through the above method steps, the upper surface of the flexible functional layer 200 of the finally manufactured diffractive optical waveguide 1 is also provided with a second rigid base layer 500 to ensure that the upper surface of the flexible functional layer 200 is not affected by the external environment, thereby extending its service life.

[0073] In one embodiment, as shown in FIG12 , the present application provides a method for manufacturing an AR lens. The manufacturing method may specifically include the following steps:

[0074] Step S310: providing a diffractive optical waveguide, wherein the diffractive optical waveguide is manufactured by the above-mentioned manufacturing method.

[0075] Step S320: cutting the diffractive optical waveguide according to a preset shape to obtain an initial lens.

[0076] Step S330: ink-coating and encapsulating the edge of the initial lens to obtain a target AR lens.

[0077] It is understood that the AR lens in this embodiment is primarily used in AR devices, where it diffracts light to project virtual images onto the user's eye, enabling an augmented reality (AR) experience. The aforementioned preset shape corresponds to the lens shape required for the AR device. The ink coating ensures that the edges of the AR lens do not leak light.

[0078] In this way, the AR lens manufactured by the above method steps can be mainly composed of the diffraction light waveguide 1 in the above embodiment, so it has the same functions and technical effects as the above diffraction light waveguide, which will not be repeated here.

[0079] The above description is only a preferred embodiment of the present application and does not limit the patent scope of the present application. All equivalent structural transformations made by using the contents of the present application description and drawings under the inventive concept of the present application, or direct / indirect application in other related technical fields are included in the patent protection scope of the present application.

Claims

1. A method for manufacturing a flexible functional layer, wherein the flexible functional layer is applied to a diffraction optical waveguide to realize the diffraction effect of the diffraction optical waveguide on light, wherein: The production method comprises the following steps: Providing a temporary substrate, coating a flexible substrate material on the upper surface of the temporary substrate, and curing the flexible substrate material to form a flexible substrate layer; Disposing and processing a light-transmitting inorganic material on the upper surface of the flexible substrate layer using a semiconductor process to form a flexible main body layer including at least one light-transmitting layer on the surface of the flexible substrate layer, thereby obtaining an intermediate assembly; The portion of the intermediate assembly except the temporary substrate is peeled off from the intermediate assembly to obtain a target flexible functional layer.

2. The production method according to claim 1, wherein The light transmitting inorganic material is titanium oxide or zirconium oxide.

3. The production method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein: The step of arranging and processing a light-transmitting inorganic material on the upper surface of the flexible substrate layer using a semiconductor process to form a flexible main body layer including at least one light-transmitting layer on the surface of the flexible substrate layer to obtain an intermediate assembly comprises: The light transmission inorganic material is plated on the upper surface of the flexible substrate layer by a magnetron vacuum coating method to form an inorganic material layer on the upper surface of the flexible substrate layer; The inorganic material layer is pattern-etched by using a dry etching process to form a light transmission layer of the flexible main body layer.

4. The production method according to claim 3, wherein: The step of patterning the inorganic material layer using a dry etching process to form a light transmission layer of the flexible main body layer includes: Coating a layer of imprint glue on the upper surface of the inorganic material layer and performing nanoimprinting to form a mask having a preset pattern; The inorganic material layer is subjected to pattern etching processing by dry etching equipment under the mask to transfer the preset pattern on the mask to the inorganic material layer to form a light transmission layer of the flexible main body layer.

5. The production method according to claim 3 or 4, wherein: The flexible main body layer further includes a light isolation layer. Before the step of coating the light transmission inorganic material on the upper surface of the flexible substrate layer by magnetron vacuum coating to form an inorganic material layer on the upper surface of the flexible substrate layer, the method further includes: Coating a light isolation layer material on the upper surface of the flexible substrate layer, and curing the light isolation layer material to form the light isolation layer; The step of coating the light-transmitting inorganic material on the upper surface of the flexible substrate layer by magnetron vacuum coating to form an inorganic material layer on the upper surface of the flexible substrate layer comprises: The light transmission inorganic material is plated on the light isolation layer on the upper surface of the flexible substrate layer by a magnetron vacuum coating method to form the inorganic material layer.

6. The production method according to claim 5, wherein: After the step of pattern etching the inorganic material layer using a dry etching process to form one of the light transmission layers of the flexible main body layer, the method further includes: A light isolation layer material is coated on the upper surface of the light transmission layer, and the light isolation layer material is cured to form another light isolation layer.

7. The production method according to claim 5, wherein: The flexible main body layer includes at least two light transmission layers. After each light transmission layer is formed, a light isolation layer is first formed on the upper surface of the current light transmission layer, and then a new light transmission layer is formed on the upper surface of the light isolation layer.

8. The production method according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein: Before the step of peeling off the portion of the intermediate assembly except the temporary substrate from the intermediate assembly to obtain the target flexible functional layer, the method further comprises: A flexible substrate material is coated on the upper surface of the flexible main body layer of the intermediate assembly, and the flexible substrate material is cured to form another flexible substrate layer.

9. A method for manufacturing a diffractive optical waveguide, wherein: The production method comprises the following steps: Providing a first rigid base layer, and attaching a first adhesive layer to the upper surface of the first rigid base layer; A flexible functional layer is provided, and the flexible functional layer is bonded and fixed to the first rigid base layer through a first adhesive layer to obtain a target diffraction optical waveguide, wherein the flexible functional layer is manufactured by the manufacturing method according to any one of claims 1 to 8.

10. The production method according to claim 9, wherein: After the step of providing a flexible functional layer and bonding and fixing the flexible functional layer to the first rigid base layer via the first adhesive layer, the method further includes: A second rigid base layer is provided, a second adhesive layer is attached to the lower surface of the second rigid base layer, and the lower surface of the second rigid base layer is bonded and fixed to the flexible functional layer to obtain a target diffraction optical waveguide.

11. A method for manufacturing an AR lens, wherein: The production method comprises the following steps: Providing a diffractive optical waveguide, wherein the diffractive optical waveguide is manufactured by the manufacturing method according to claim 9 or 10; Cutting the diffractive optical waveguide according to a preset shape to obtain an initial lens; The edges of the initial lens are coated with ink and sealed to obtain a target AR lens.

Images