How did metasurfaces transition from sorcery to commercial reality? –  An interview with NIL Technology

Metasurfaces are an emerging class of optical components based on diffractive physics, holding much promise for miniaturization, cost reduction, and functionalization. Optical metasurfaces are poised to improve existing consumer electronics as mature as smartphones and enable a new range of devices like augmented reality glasses. For the first time last year, Yole Group investigated this topic in its report Optical Metasurfaces 2024, where it forecast a market value of $2 billion by 2029, driven mainly by the emerging augmented reality and optimization of 3D imaging and tracking modules.

Yole Group has been anticipating for years the arrival of metasurfaces in its technical roadmaps. This became a reality in 2023 and 2024 with devices spotted in modules such as the iPad Pro 13’’ Face ID, analyzed in the reverse costing report, Apple Face ID Comparison 2025 – including metasurfaces. It accelerated in augmented reality displays with its adoption in many reference designs and low-volume products like the Meta Orion.

NIL Technology has been one of the pioneering start-ups that has led the development of metasurfaces and built unique know-how in design and manufacturing. In January 2025, NIL Technology entered a new era with the completion of its acquisition by Radiant Opto-Electronics (Radiant). Besides this significant step, the efforts of the company led its latest product, metaEye^TM, to win the Prism Award at SPIE Photonics West 2025. Today, we have the pleasure of discussing with Theodor Nielsen, CEO and Founder of NIL Technology.

This interview is conducted by both Yole Group’s analyst, Axel Clouet and Raphaël Mermet-Lyaudoz.

Axel Clouet (AC): Could you provide a brief overview of NIL Technology’s background?

Theodor Nielsen (TN): We started NIL Technology (NILT) in 2006 as a company making masters for nanoimprint lithography (NIL). We were a photomask house for NIL, if you like. In 2019, we decided to become a meta-optics (MOE) company. Today, we focus on the mass production of MOE using NIL, but we have kept our mastering business line active, and we serve several customers, especially for augmented reality (AR) applications.

NIL Technology has ≈75 employees and operations in Denmark, Switzerland, Sweden, and Malaysia. With Radiant’s ownership, we are now part of a much larger organization with more than 15,000 people.

AC: Can you provide an overview of the key know-how needed to create highly functional metasurfaces? (Software, Design, Process…)

TN: Meta-optics is a true interdisciplinary area as it involves building optics using semiconductor processes. I am happy to elaborate, as we have built up all processes from optical design to mass production of meta-optics, and we are also establishing processes for module integration.

Optics design is what comes first. We have taken an approach where we have built and are continuing to build in-house software solutions to create the meta-optics surface design. Our internal software seamlessly interfaces with commercially available ray-tracing software. This allows us to connect the world of meta-optics with the conventional optics design methods. We prototype the meta-optics by electron beam lithography and etch, and we mass produce by nanoimprint lithography and etch (as opposed to the approach taken by traditional semiconductor processing companies and foundries where they use DUV lithography and etching to make metalenses). This is a big differentiator, because the traditional semiconductor approach uses DUV lithography and etch for both prototyping and mass production. Our approach gives us several advantages, including complete material freedom, fast turnaround time, absence of limiting design rules from semiconductor processing, and much more. Next is optical characterization, and in addition to all this, a lot of material science to match optical and mechanical parameters and specifications.

Raphaël Mermet-Lyaudoz (RML): How would you define and position NIL Technology in the metasurface ecosystem? What business plan has the company been following since its creation? What is the advantage of this unique position?

TN: We are focusing on mass production. This is where our core technology is focused and what we are investing in. We believe that semiconductor foundries are limited in their capabilities (processing, materials, design rules), while we have built processes that allow us to realize much more advanced meta-optics. Our deep understanding of nano-processing and being in a position where we have been allowed to build up the technology from scratch, testing thousands of ideas, failing more than succeeding, has brought us to a place where we know what we can do, and we know it is exceptional.

We work with our customers following one of two paths. Essentially, we are a foundry for MOEs. Our customers bring their designs, which follow our design guidelines. Alternatively, we can assist with anything from adjusting and optimizing a design to providing the full design. In short, regardless of whether you have a design or not, we ensure you get meta-optics mass-produced and delivered to your specifications.

AC: NIL Technology has been acquired by Radiant Opto-Electronics, a well-known player with mass manufacturing capabilities. How do you expect synergies to develop between the two companies in the future?

TN: You are pointing directly to one of the motivations for Radiant’s acquisition of NILT. Our next focus is ramping up mass production to consumer electronics volumes, and this is where Radiant Opto-Electronics’ experience will be very helpful to NILT. We are combining advanced processing with decades of experience in making advanced optical products for the consumer electronics industry.

AC: What market and applications do you expect will have the greatest outcomes for your technologies? Where do you think NIL Technology differentiates itself the most?

TN: Market and timing go hand in hand. Right now, there is no doubt that monochromatic near-infrared sensing is the market. It is the ideal use case for meta-optics version 1.0. It is relatively easy to get started and build something that works or at least is good enough for initial applications. I refer to these applications as MOE version 1.0 because the applications do not require very advanced performance. In this case, you can think of the MOEs replacing DOEs (diffractive optical elements), and there is no need in the use case for super-optimized performance. This is exactly the case for dot projectors used in 3D sensing.

NILT differentiates in MOE version 1.0 by providing higher performance and better control. Our differentiators are more significant when we consider receiver lenses (Rx). For Rx optics, it is essential to control all the light, and since MOEs are diffractive by nature, this means we must reduce the energy in the higher orders of diffraction. As far as I know, we are the only company who have launched a product with two metalenses, the metaEye™ camera. This is significant because we have stacked two diffractive lenses and are getting an amazing image quality, and there is no use of any refractive lenses at all. As the name indicates, the camera is configured for eye-tracking purposes, and the image quality is so high that it can even be used for iris recognition. Another uniqueness we have demonstrated is side-by-side Tx optics, made in the same production process, which we have demonstrated in a module by trinamiX for user authentication purposes.

RML: In 2024, NIL Technology released the metaEye™ module, which is more than just a metasurface but a complete camera module. What product range or services should we expect to be branded “NIL Technology” in the future?

TN: The purpose of releasing the metaEye™ camera was to show that meta-optics are real. It can be taken far beyond simple transmitter optics, and meta-optics can be optimized to a level where even cameras with impressive image quality can be built. We want to show how advanced NILT’s meta-optics solutions have become. To our satisfaction, this demonstrator has been very well received, and we have many requests for both the solution as we presented it as well as customized versions..

NILT’s focus is to establish mass production of meta-optics (MOEs), and this is what we are investing in, but I do foresee that in the future we will showcase other unique demo-cases of the technology and take a role in deploying these.

RML: What is your view on the different material platforms (polymer, glass/Si, inorganic resists…) that can be used as optical structures within the various types of metasurface devices (Optical combiners, dot projectors, metalenses…)?

TN: It is our belief that advanced and high-performing meta-optics will be made by creating the meta-atoms by etching into a dielectric material. There are many reasons for this. Dielectric materials are stable, and we can control the process accurately; it is in this material group that we find the best optical properties that support the meta-optics models. There are a few groups and companies that are promoting polymer and inorganic resists, but I don’t see that they will get to a point where they both have controllable, attractive optical properties and a well-controlled process to create high-performing optics in volume production. Our models do not support the idea of replicated metalenses. There might be simple, DOE-like use cases, where they can find use, but I am sticking my neck out and saying that this will not become the way of mass-producing meta-optics.

AC: What are the most challenging parts in the process of metasurface manufacturing? (challenges related to material used as stamps, sacrificial layer…)? What is the path towards cost reduction of metasurfaces?

TN: I would not say there is a single item that stands out as the most difficult. I will address your question from a different perspective. Meta-optics are new, and there are no established standards. Because of this, there are no “well-knowns”, and everything is up for debate. We realized this early, leading to our vertically integrated strategy, which allows us to control the entire process in-house. We can do designs and compare this to the performance of prototypes made by electron beam lithography and etch, and compare this to the performance of optics made with our mass production process, cf. nanoimprint lithography and etch. Because of this, we have a very stable and robust process that builds on our technology developed across a 20-year time span. We can, therefore, focus on the use case of meta-optics and how they are integrated in modules in the best possible manner to make sure that the unique properties of meta-optics are exploited on the module level. This also hints at your question about cost reduction. The interesting thing about meta-optics is not really the price of the optics, but rather what savings it enables through its properties. At NILT, we design meta-optics that are thermally stable and designed for robust assembly tolerances.

AC: In the long term, what is your vision for the adoption of metasurface technologies? Where should we expect to see them the most? What will be the hardest technical challenges to overcome?

TN: I have the opinion that we will see meta-optics everywhere in the future. Meta-optics will be as common as refractive lenses. I think meta-optics will, so to say, co-exist with refractive lenses. Meta-optics opens a new dimension in the optical design space, but it will take some time before standardization and common design rules are in place. Two good challenges to work on are the inherited chromatic aberration due to meta-optics’ diffractive nature and the need to protect the nanostructured surface.

RML: Do you have anything else to add?

I am often met with the wrong assumption that NILT is making meta-optics by replication (nanoimprint) in a manner where we imprint into a “high” refractive index material. This is wrong, but I do understand the confusion based on our name. Our process at NILT is very similar to the foundries, but we are using nanoimprint lithography instead of DUV lithography. We do etch the meta-atoms into the meta-atom material after the NIL process step. We find nanoimprint lithography attractive because it gives us a lot of freedom, for instance, with respect to materials, design, and iteration speed, and the fab and tool requirements are significantly less.

As well as Consumer Teardown Tracks

Source: www.nilt.com