Metalenz and UMC Bring Breakthrough Face Authentication Solution Polar ID to Mass Production
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The direct integration of Metalenz technology onto image sensors at the semiconductor foundry marks a new frontier for machine vision and artificial intelligence.
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Supply chain qualification and 300 mm wafer manufacturing at UMC enables rapid ramp to meet OEM demand.
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Breakthrough polarization-based face authentication technology ready for high-volume manufacturing, enabling secure, compact, and cost-effective biometrics for the mass market.
Metalenz, the leader in metasurface innovation and commercialization, and United Microelectronics Corporation, a leading global semiconductor foundry, announced Metalenz’s its breakthrough face authentication solution, Polar ID, is now ready for mass production through UMC.
Polar ID is a compact, polarization-based biometric solution that leverages Metalenz’s metasurface technology to bring payment-grade security and advanced sensing capabilities to any device, even the most challenging of form factors. Using a polarization sensitive meta-optic and advanced algorithms, Polar ID extracts additional information sets such as material and contour information to provide secure face authentication in a single image, dramatically reducing cost and complexity over existing secure face unlock solutions.
Metalenz has already demonstrated the product, featuring a polarization sensitive meta-optic directly integrated onto an image sensor, on a smartphone reference platform powered by Snapdragon® mobile processors. UMC manufactures the meta-optic layer using its 40nm process and achieves sensor integration utilizing its wafer-on-wafer bonding technology. Leveraging UMC’s 300mm wafer manufacturing capabilities, as well as the qualification of this supply chain, Metalenz is ready to ramp into volume positioning Polar ID for widespread adoption across consumer electronics, mobile, and IoT platforms.
“By combining our metasurface innovation with UMC’s manufacturing scale and process maturity, Polar ID is ready to meet the demands of high-volume consumer electronics, and to bring secure, affordable face authentication to billions of devices,” said Rob Devlin, CEO and Co-Founder of Metalenz. “Metalenz is the critical enabler of the metasurface market. With the first generation of our technology already at work in the market replacing lens stacks in existing sensing solutions, we are now leveraging the unique capabilities of our technology to bring new forms of sensing to mass markets for the first time. With demand for secure and convenient biometrics rapidly expanding across consumer devices and IoT, Polar ID delivers secure face authentication in the smallest, simplest form factor, making advanced sensing accessible beyond premium tiers and in places it wasn’t previously possible.”
“Our state-of-the art 12-inch facilities and comprehensive portfolio of semiconductor manufacturing process technologies have made us the foundry partner of choice for some of the most advanced fabless semiconductor companies in the world. We have worked with Metalenz on commercializing their metasurface technology since 2021, and we are pleased to be their key manufacturing partner to support the high-volume production of next-generation polarization imaging modules,” said Steven Hsu, Vice President of Technology Development, UMC. “This collaboration will enable UMC to expand our offering into sensor integrated metasurfaces and play a pioneering role in delivering this disruptive imaging technology to market.”
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