Sustainability | Sustainability Management | Efforts to Achieve the SDGsContribution to the SDGs through Products

TDK Corporation
AR Glasses

Advances in technology are significantly reshaping the ways in which we interact with digital information in our everyday lives. Among these advances, augmented reality (AR) technology is garnering attention due to its ability to enhance everyday experiences by overlaying information and graphics onto the real world. It is anticipated that AR glasses could in the future replace smartphones due to their capacity to configure phone communications, messages, navigation, and other functionalities onto the natural field of vision.

High-resolution displays, lightweight designs, and low power consumption are integral to achieving practical applications of AR glasses. TDK is currently developing the key technologies which will underpin device performance in this field.

TDK Corporation
Ultra-compact Full-color Laser Module

The Ultra-compact Full-color Laser Module (FCLM) developed by TDK is a light source module that uses proprietary Planar Waveguide Technology to merge laser light without the need to use a lens or mirror and allows images to be projected directly onto the human retina. Doing so enables the display of natural, distortion-free images and contributes to the achievement of higher image quality and unprecedented levels of immersion in AR glasses.

The extremely compact and energy-efficient nature of FCLM also facilitates reductions in the weight of AR glasses themselves while alleviating battery loads. FCLM additionally contributes to reduced environmental load through reductions in the overall material and energy consumption of the product as well as efficiency improvements during transportation.

TDK Corporation
The Load Port and Flip Chip Bonding System for semiconductor manufacturing equipment integrating FA technologies

The growth of the AI-driven society is rapidly increasing the demand for semiconductor devices. Consequently, it is essential to improve the efficiency, precision, and contamination control of semiconductor manufacturing equipment. TDK is furthering the development of equipment for the semiconductor manufacturing sector by combining factory automation (FA) technologies, that it has cultivated through its manufacturing of electronic components, with advanced contamination control technologies, refined in the process of manufacturing magnetic heads for HDDs.

Key products in this domain include our Load Port, which automatically transfers wafer storage pods into and out of equipment, and the Flip Chip Bonding System, which attaches IC chips onto substrates with a high degree of precision, helping to achieve stabilization, automation, and labor savings in the process of manufacturing, and thereby facilitate improved efficiency in semiconductor production.

These products furthermore contribute to reductions in environmental load by optimizing the overall manufacturing process, including the achievement of energy savings and reductions in material loss. TDK combines its proprietary material technologies to deliver unique solutions not available from other companies and support the growth of the entire AI ecosystem market.

TDK SensEI
Realizing predictive maintenance for industrial machinery by integrating edge AI with sensor technology

Factories and other production sites, plants that require a full set of large-sized manufacturing and processing equipment, and smart buildings that use the IoT for facility monitoring, all need to minimize downtime by preventing machinery and equipment from malfunctioning. Rather than waiting for something to go wrong with equipment before dealing with it, Predictive Maintenance (PdM), which monitors early warning signs of abnormalities and deterioration to enable timely maintenance, optimizes maintenance costs and improves equipment availability, thereby enhancing productivity.
TDK SenEI’s edgeRX is a platform that uses AI-enabled edge sensor devices to monitor the status of industrial machinery. By integrating AI algorithms, edge computing and high-performance sensor devices, edgeRX enables monitoring of industrial machinery in real time, while also generating insights that can help to reduce downtime and improve productivity, and providing an alert function that notifies users when it is time to perform maintenance.