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Metalenz PolarID Ready for Production at UMC
BOSTON, Nov. 17, 2025 — UMC will employ its 40-nm process to produce the polarization-sensitive meta-optic layer of Metalenz’s biometric imaging system Polar ID and integrate it with sensor components — Samsung Electronics’ ISOCELL Vision 931 technology — using wafer-on-wafer bonding. According to Metalenz, with the qualification of the supply chain, the company is ready to ramp into volume production.
Polar ID is a compact biometric solution leveraging metasurface technology to capture polarized images in the near-IR with advanced global shutter technology. The system extracts information sets such as material and contour information to provide facial authentication with a single image, providing a 50% reduction in size and cost over traditional facial authentication technologies, which require multiple images.
Previously demonstrated on a smartphone reference platform powered by Snapdragon mobile processors, Metalenz said the product can be the technology can be integrated into any device, regardless of form factor. The technology is a finalist in the 2026 PRISM Awards.
Metalenz has worked with UMC in the past to produce its technology, as well as STMicroelectronics, with whom the company signed an expanded license agreement, following the selection of Samsung’s ISOCELL sensors. Metalenz is a spinout of Harvard University, founded in 2016.
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