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Compound Photonics

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Compound Photonics
Information
Industry Microdisplays for augmented and mixed reality
Founded 2007
Founder Jonathan Sachs, Jerry Woodall
Headquarters Phoenix, Arizona (2009); Chandler, Arizona (2020-2021)
Notable Personnel Jonathan Sachs (co-founder, president and CEO, listed 2013); Jerry Woodall (co-founder); Yiwan Wong (CEO in 2019 and early 2020); Edmund Passon (Co-CEO and CTO in 2020); Richard Jackson (COO in 2017, Co-CEO in 2020)
Products LCoS microdisplays (CP1080p26, CP2K234), MicroLED backplanes, IntelliPix display platform, optical engine reference design
Parent Snap Inc. (reported acquisition, January 2022)
Website https://www.compoundphotonics.com (defunct)

Compound Photonics (CP, also known as CP Display) was a developer of small, high-resolution microdisplays for augmented reality (AR) and mixed reality (MR) glasses. It made liquid crystal on silicon (LCoS) panels with a pixel pitch of about 3 micrometres and later worked on drive backplanes for MicroLED displays.[1][2] Its final website listed offices in Chandler, Arizona, and Vancouver, Washington.[3]

The company began as a projection display venture that took over the LCoS operations of the television maker Syntax-Brillian in 2007.[4] By 2019 it was concentrating on near-eye displays for AR glasses. Its 2048 by 2048 LCoS panel was used in the Lumus Maximus prototype glasses, which the display analyst Karl Guttag examined in 2021.[5] In January 2022 Guttag reported, citing several sources, that Snap Inc. had bought the company. Snap had not officially confirmed the deal, and no price was disclosed.[6][7]

Reviewed 15 October 2026. Every cited source re-opened (archived CP pages and press releases 2009-2020, Syntax-Brillian SEC transcript, Compound Semiconductor, Design and Reuse, KGOnTech 2021/2022/2025, MIXED, LEDinside, Snap newsroom, July 2022 redirect capture) against all dates, specs, names and acquisition claims. About review dates.

History

Origins in projection displays

In an earnings call on 8 November 2007, Syntax-Brillian chief executive James Li said the company had agreed in principle on 22 October 2007 to sell its LCoS operations to Compound Photonics, Ltd., which he described as a UK-based company with offices in Cambridge. Under the agreement Syntax-Brillian kept the LCoS patents and other intellectual property and licensed them to Compound Photonics. Compound Photonics was to take over the LCoS manufacturing equipment and inventory and most of the lease obligations for the facilities used in LCoS production, and Syntax-Brillian arranged to receive an equity stake in the buyer.[4] Guttag wrote that the company was founded in 2007 and that the assets it bought traced back through Three-Five Systems' Brillian unit to Colorado Microdisplays, an early maker of LCoS headset devices. According to Guttag, CP was first set up to build large-screen projectors in which small laser-illuminated LCoS devices optically addressed a separate "compound photonic" material, the source of the company's name. That projector concept failed, and CP kept making the small LCoS devices originally designed by Colorado Microdisplays and later concentrated on LCoS development.[6][8]

The company's 2009 website described Compound Photonics as based in Cambridge, England, with engineering and administration in Cambridge and in Phoenix, Arizona. Its main product at the time was a light modulator for digital cinema, large-venue projection and projection television.[9] In December 2008 it announced a move of its headquarters, effective 19 January 2009, to a site on the ON Semiconductor campus in Phoenix, citing the expected start of production.[10] By 2013 the company described itself as a projection company working on laser light engines, from small full HD engines for phones to cinema projectors, with its liquid crystal, thin-film, optics and laser development done in the former Motorola fab known as COM-1 in Phoenix. That page listed Jonathan Sachs as co-founder, president and chief executive, and the semiconductor researcher Jerry Woodall as co-founder.[11]

In May 2016 CP introduced what it called the smallest native 4K imaging device, 14 mm across the diagonal with pixels smaller than 3 micrometres, at Display Summit China in Yixing.[12] Its 2017 website listed 4K laser projection, embedded projection, head-up display, headlight and gesture recognition products, and a head-mounted display page that pitched the chip for AR and VR wearables.[13] The leadership page then named Brian Bolger as CEO and CFO, Steve Stark as CTO, Richard Jackson as COO and Edmund Passon as vice president of product development.[14]

AR microdisplays (2019-2021)

By 2019 the company traded as Compound Photonics U.S. Corporation, with a Vancouver, Washington office, and marketed itself to AR and MR device makers. In May 2019 it released the CP1080p26 LCoS series, with Yiwan Wong as CEO.[15] In October 2019 CP and Plessey Semiconductors announced a partnership to build a 1080p microLED microdisplay: Plessey would bond its gallium nitride on silicon microLED array wafers to CP's backplane wafers, and CP would assemble and package the modules with its NOVA display driver architecture.[16] The CP2K234, a 2048 by 2048 LCoS panel, followed in December 2019.[1]

In January 2020 the holography software company VividQ announced a partnership with CP. VividQ built a holographic AR headset demonstrator using CP's phase-modulating LCoS microdisplay subsystem, to be shown at the SPIE AR/VR/MR conference in San Francisco in February 2020.[17] On 12 February 2020 CP and Plessey said they had produced their first fully addressable microLED display modules. Plessey bonded the wafers in Plymouth, CP assembled the modules at its Phoenix facility, and characterization took place in Vancouver.[18] About a month later Facebook reached an agreement with Plessey that, in Guttag's description, gave Facebook a license to all of Plessey's microLED production. Guttag wrote that this left CP without an LED partner, since its microLED process depended on bonding another company's LEDs to its backplane.[6][19]

CP then offered its microLED backplane to other microLED developers (May 2020) and released an optical engine reference design for its 1080p LCoS panel (April 2020).[20][21] In August 2020 it announced the IntelliPix platform and a new brand identity built around a hummingbird logo, describing itself as having grown from a microdisplay company into a display technology platform provider. Edmund Passon was then co-CEO and CTO.[2][22]

In September 2020 the equipment maker Axus Technology announced that it would work with CP on chemical mechanical planarization and cleaning processes for bonding microLED wafers to CMOS backplanes, aimed at CP's 2 µm pixel 1080p microLED displays.[23] On 16 November 2020 CP announced the MicroLED Innovation Acceleration Center (MiAC) in Chandler, an approximately 15,000 square foot Class 100 clean room for microLED assembly, bonding and pilot production. The company said it had invested over US$20 million in the facility since 2018. Co-CEO Richard Jackson was quoted in the announcement, and the company said first samples of a 0.26-inch 1080p RGB microLED display were expected there by summer 2021.[24] On 10 March 2021 CP and GlobalFoundries announced that IntelliPix would be manufactured on GlobalFoundries' 22FDX platform, with the first commercial products using it expected on the market in 2023.[25]

Acquisition by Snap

On 7 January 2022 Guttag wrote that he had "multiple sources" confirming that Snap had bought Compound Photonics.[6] MIXED and LEDinside repeated the report; MIXED noted that the price was not known and that the deal had not been officially confirmed. The purchase followed Snap's purchase of the waveguide maker WaveOptics in May 2021.[7][19] Guttag thought Snap wanted CP mainly for its LCoS work, since microLEDs for waveguide glasses were still years from consumer products.[6] By July 2022 the compoundphotonics.com address redirected to the WaveOptics website, which described WaveOptics as a wholly owned subsidiary of Snap.[26]

Snap's fifth-generation Spectacles, announced on 17 September 2024, use LCoS micro-projectors feeding waveguides; Snap's announcement does not name the source of the LCoS devices.[27] In August 2025 Guttag wrote that owning CP gave Snap control over its LCoS supply, including LCoS assembly and projection optics, and that Snap's vice president of hardware engineering, Scott Myers, had told him at AWE 2025 that Snap was "very pleased" with how its WaveOptics and Compound Photonics acquisitions were progressing. Guttag also wrote that CP had sampled devices but never reached volume manufacturing, and that the only volume product he knew it to have shipped was one of the LCoS devices inherited from Colorado Microdisplays.[8]

Products

Product Announced Type Details (company figures)
Native 4K imaging device May 2016 Microdisplay 14 mm diagonal, pixels smaller than 3 µm; introduced at Display Summit China 2016[12]
CP1080p26 May 2019 LCoS microdisplay 1920 x 1080, 0.26-inch diagonal, 3.015 µm pixel pitch; amplitude or phase modulation; integrated display module 15.5 x 7.25 x 3.4 mm; frame rate up to 240 Hz and color subframe rate up to 1440 Hz; 3000:1 contrast; production planned for Q4 2019[15]
CP2K234 December 2019 LCoS microdisplay 2048 x 2048, 0.34-inch diagonal, 3.015 µm pixel pitch, 1:1 aspect ratio; amplitude or phase (holographic) versions; module 11 x 11.5 x 3 mm; 64 extra steering pixels horizontally and vertically; amplitude samples available at launch, production slated for Q4 2020[1]
1080p optical engine reference design April 2020 Optical engine Under 3 cubic centimetres, for the 0.26-inch 1080p LCoS module and 50 degree or wider waveguides; offered for license[21]
MicroLED backplane May 2020 Display backplane Constant-current pixel drive based on the 0.26-inch 1080p format, about 3 µm pixels, native 2048 x 1080 plus steering pixels, MIPI input[20]
IntelliPix August 2020 Display drive platform Single chip combining backplane and display driver; iDrive (constant current, for microLED) and vDrive (voltage driven, for LCoS) variants; claimed up to 100 times faster modulation and 4 to 12 times lower video pipeline power than CP's earlier platforms[2][25]

Technology

CP's LCoS panels were reflective, field-sequential color devices using vertically aligned liquid crystal.[1][5] The company's NOVA driver architecture allowed frame-by-frame control of frame rate, color subframe rate and persistence over a MIPI interface, which CP pitched as a way to trade latency and image quality against power in AR glasses.[15][1] CP said the square CP2K234 could reach 60 pixels per degree when combined with waveguides of 50 degrees or wider field of view.[1] In his hands-on report on the Lumus Maximus, Guttag wrote that CP's 3-micron pixels kept high reflectivity and contrast and that the very high color field rate helped prevent color breakup.[5]

The phase-modulating versions were aimed at holographic displays. In the VividQ partnership, CP's LCoS phase displays and VividQ's computer-generated holography software were presented as a way to address the vergence-accommodation conflict in AR headsets.[17]

IntelliPix added "OnDemand Pixels", which drives only the active parts of an image. The company said this could support bandwidth bursts and foveated rendering when combined with eye tracking. Pixel pitches were customizable from about 1.5 µm upward, and resolution up to 2048 x 2048 and beyond.[2] The GlobalFoundries announcement gave a minimum pixel pitch of 2.5 µm.[25]

XR work

CP's main XR connection is the Lumus Maximus, a prototype of Lumus reflective-waveguide glasses with a 2048 by 2048 image per eye. Guttag, who examined it in 2021, reported that it used CP's 2K by 2K LCoS microdisplay.[5][8] The VividQ holographic AR demonstrator of 2020 also used CP's phase LCoS subsystem.[17] Guttag wrote in 2022 that CP's LCoS devices had not appeared in finished commercial glasses.[6]

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 "Compound Photonics Announces World's Smallest 2Kx2K Microdisplay for Wide Field of View AR/MR Applications". Compound Photonics. 2019-12-16. https://web.archive.org/web/20200808032833/https://www.compoundphotonics.com/2019/12/16/compound-photonics-announces-worlds-smallest-2kx2k-microdisplay-for-wide-field-of-view-armr-applications/. Retrieved 2026-10-15.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 "CP Display Unveils IntelliPix platform". Compound Semiconductor. 2020-08-04. https://compoundsemiconductor.net/article/111749/CP_Display_Unveils_IntelliPix_platform. Retrieved 2026-10-15.
  3. ↑ "Contact Us". Compound Photonics. https://web.archive.org/web/2022/https://www.compoundphotonics.com/contact-us/. Retrieved 2026-10-15.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 "BRLC - Q1 2008 Syntax-Brillian Corporation Earnings Conference Call (transcript, Exhibit 99.2 to Form 8-K)". U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Syntax-Brillian Corporation. 2007-11-13. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1232229/000095015307002400/p74628exv99w2.htm. Retrieved 2026-10-15.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Karl Guttag (2021-05-24). "Exclusive: Lumus Maximus 2K x 2K Per Eye, >3000 Nits, 50 FOV with Through-the-Optics Pictures". KGOnTech. https://kguttag.com/2021/05/24/exclusive-lumus-maximus-2k-x-2k-per-eye-3000-nits-50-fov-with-though-the-optics-pictures/. Retrieved 2026-10-15.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 Karl Guttag (2022-01-07). "Exclusive: Snap Buying Compound Photonics (LCOS and MicroLED)". KGOnTech. https://kguttag.com/2022/01/07/exclusive-snap-buying-compound-photonics-lcos-and-microled/. Retrieved 2026-10-15.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Matthias Bastian (2022-01-08). "AR glasses: Race with Meta - Snap buys next company". MIXED. https://mixed-news.com/en/ar-glasses-race-with-meta-snap-buys-next-company/. Retrieved 2026-10-15.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Karl Guttag (2025-08-07). "Snap Spectacles at CES, AR/VR/MR, & AWE 2025, Consumer Product in 2026". KGOnTech. https://kguttag.com/2025/08/07/snap-spectacles-at-ces-ar-vr-mr-awe-2025-conumer-product-in-2026/. Retrieved 2026-10-15.
  9. ↑ "About Compound Photonics". Compound Photonics. https://web.archive.org/web/20090802114412/http://www.compoundphotonics.com:80/about.htm. Retrieved 2026-10-15.
  10. ↑ "Compound Photonics Announces Move to New Corporate Headquarters". Compound Photonics. 2008-12. https://web.archive.org/web/20090802114444/http://www.compoundphotonics.com:80/announcements.htm. Retrieved 2026-10-15.
  11. ↑ "About". Compound Photonics. https://web.archive.org/web/20130403231056/http://www.compoundphotonics.com:80/about. Retrieved 2026-10-15.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 "Recent Press Releases". Compound Photonics. https://web.archive.org/web/20170602050554/https://www.compoundphotonics.com/about-us/press-releases. Retrieved 2026-10-15.
  13. ↑ "Head Mounted Display". Compound Photonics. https://web.archive.org/web/20170602044032/https://www.compoundphotonics.com/products/head-mounted-display. Retrieved 2026-10-15.
  14. ↑ "Our Team". Compound Photonics. https://web.archive.org/web/20170602050147/https://www.compoundphotonics.com/about-us/our-team. Retrieved 2026-10-15.
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 "Compound Photonics Unveils World's Smallest 1080p Liquid Crystal Microdisplay for AR and HUD Applications". Compound Photonics. 2019-05-14. https://web.archive.org/web/20191120175212/https://www.compoundphotonics.com/2019/05/14/compound-photonics-unveils-worlds-smallest-1080p-liquid-crystal-microdisplay-for-ar-and-hud-applications/. Retrieved 2026-10-15.
  16. ↑ "Compound Photonics and Plessey Semiconductors Partner to Leading MicroLED Display Solutions". Compound Photonics. 2019-10-14. https://web.archive.org/web/20191120171216/https://www.compoundphotonics.com/2019/10/14/compound-photonics-and-plessey-semiconductors-partner-to-leading-microled-display-solutions/. Retrieved 2026-10-15.
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 17.2 "VividQ and Compound Photonics Partner to Deliver an Integrated Solution for Real 3D Holographic Display Targeted at Augmented Reality Devices". Compound Photonics. 2020-01-31. https://web.archive.org/web/20200808032326/https://www.compoundphotonics.com/2020/01/31/vividq-and-compound-photonics-partner-to-deliver-an-integrated-solution-for-real-3d-holographic-display-targeted-at-augmented-reality-devices/. Retrieved 2026-10-15.
  18. ↑ "Compound Photonics and Plessey Light Up First 0.26 Inch Fully Addressable Integrated microLED Display Module for AR/MR". Compound Photonics. 2020-02-12. https://web.archive.org/web/20200808032953/https://www.compoundphotonics.com/2020/02/12/compound-photonics-and-plessey-light-up-first-0-26-inch-fully-addressable-integrated-microled-display-module-for-armr/. Retrieved 2026-10-15.
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 "Snap Buying Micro LED/LCOS Microdisplay Developer Compound Photonics". LEDinside. 2022-01-18. https://www.ledinside.com/node/32532. Retrieved 2026-10-15.
  20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 "Compound Photonics Launches Advanced Digital Backplane & Display Driver Technology Platform to Enable the World's Smallest microLED AR Displays". Compound Photonics. 2020-05-05. https://web.archive.org/web/20200929064913/https://www.compoundphotonics.com/2020/06/12/compound-photonics-launches-advanced-digital-backplane-display-driver-technology-platform-to-enable-the-worlds-smallest-microled-ar-displays/. Retrieved 2026-10-15.
  21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 "Compound Photonics Unveils World's Smallest Wide Field of View 1080p Optical Engine Reference Design for Smart Glasses". Compound Photonics. 2020-04-16. https://web.archive.org/web/20200808033845/https://www.compoundphotonics.com/2020/04/16/compound-photonics-unveils-worlds-smallest-wide-field-of-view-1080p-optical-engine-reference-design-for-smart-glasses/. Retrieved 2026-10-15.
  22. ↑ "Compound Photonics Introduces Its New Corporate Identity". Compound Photonics. 2020-08-02. https://web.archive.org/web/20200929072249/https://www.compoundphotonics.com/2020/08/02/compound-photonics-introduces-its-new-corporate-identity/. Retrieved 2026-10-15.
  23. ↑ "Axus Technology Partners with CP Display for Process Development to Accelerate Monolithic 1080p MicroLED Displays to Mainstream AR". Compound Photonics. 2020-09-30. https://web.archive.org/web/20201022145958/https://www.compoundphotonics.com/2020/10/01/axus-technology-partners-with-cp-display-for-process-development-to-accelerate-monolithic-1080p-microled-displays-to-mainstream-ar/. Retrieved 2026-10-15.
  24. ↑ "Compound Photonics Announces the Opening of MicroLED Innovation Acceleration Center (MiAC) in Chandler, Arizona". Compound Photonics. 2020-11-16. https://web.archive.org/web/20201116182942/https://www.compoundphotonics.com/2020/11/16/compound-photonics-announces-the-opening-of-microled-innovation-acceleration-center-miac-in-chandler-arizona/. Retrieved 2026-10-15.
  25. ↑ 25.0 25.1 25.2 "Compound Photonics Partners with GLOBALFOUNDRIES to Manufacture World's First Monolithic Microdisplay for Real-Time AR". Design and Reuse. 2021-03-10. https://us.design-reuse.com/news/49614/compound-photonics-globalfoundries-monolithic-microdisplay-real-time-ar.html. Retrieved 2026-10-15.
  26. ↑ "compoundphotonics.com (archived capture of 18 July 2022, redirect to the WaveOptics website)". Internet Archive. 2022-07-18. https://web.archive.org/web/20220718130840/https://www.compoundphotonics.com/. Retrieved 2026-10-15.
  27. ↑ "SPS 2024 - Introducing New Spectacles and Snap OS: The Next Frontier of AR Glasses". Snap Newsroom. Snap Inc.. 2024-09-17. https://newsroom.snap.com/sps-2024-spectacles-snapos. Retrieved 2026-10-15.
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