Innovative materials and flexible electronics are opening the door to a new generation of wearable medical devices. In partnership with Azalea Vision, CSEM has helped turn a bold concept into working medical technology. Azalea Vision’s smart contact lens is set to transform how patients experience light and vision.
Light normally enhances how we navigate the world, sharpening focus, guiding daily rhythms, and connecting us to our surroundings. For millions, however, it also causes discomfort that makes stepping outside or looking at a screen painful. When the iris or other eye structures malfunction, or when conditions such as migraines, dry eye, or brain injuries are present, light becomes overwhelming and triggers severe sensitivity, or photophobia. This can diminish quality of life and limit independence.
To address this need, Azalea Vision’s ALMA lens is a smart contact lens that helps the eye manage incoming light naturally. At its center is an ultra-thin mini-iris, opening and closing within milliseconds to regulate light, similar to transition lenses darkened by the sun. This restores comfort for people whose iris no longer functions correctly and offers a non-surgical option for selected eye disorders.
Making this function work inside a soft contact lens requires advanced, flexible electronics. Azalea Vision defined how the lens responds to light, while CSEM built the ultra-thin electronic base and antenna on a flexible plastic film that allows the lens to receive power and instructions from an external source. CSEM adapted Azalea Vision’s original fabrication process to its cleanroom for reliable, large-scale production. Azalea Vision and its subcontractors then integrated the microchip, micro-battery, liquid-crystal mini-iris, and optics. As Patrick Surbled, MEMS Processes Expert, CSEM, explains, “We set out to build circuitry so thin, flexible, and reliable that patients can forget it is there; it feels like an ordinary contact lens but does the hard work of managing light for them.”
The plastic film carrying these circuits is made from polyimide, a resilient material widely used in flexible electronics and medical microdevices compatible with human tissue. “CSEM has become a leader in polyimide-based MEMS, miniaturized electronic structures used in advanced devices, including flexible neural probes and micro-implants that move with the body while maintaining stable electrical performance,” says Daniele Brunazzo, Business Development Manager, CSEM. “That same expertise now supports Azalea Vision’s smart lens, where ultra-thin polyimide circuits must operate reliably within the sensitive environment of the eye.”
This collaboration shows the power of combining entrepreneurial vision with industrial know-how. Azalea Vision brings medical insight and product strategy, while CSEM contributes cleanroom facilities, MEMS manufacturing expertise, and scalable flexible electronics. As Andrés Vásquez Quintero, CTO and Co‑Founder of Azalea Vision, notes, “CSEM’s facilities and expertise have been essential in transforming our smart contact lens designs into reality and achieving a major development milestone with several successfully tested production batches.”
With development completed and initial wafers validated, the ALMA lens is ready for the next steps toward industrialization and clinical use. Designed to evolve, it could one day integrate features such as biosensing or targeted drug delivery. By combining CSEM’s strengths in biocompatible microelectronics with Azalea Vision’s medical innovation, this smart lens promises new levels of comfort, autonomy, and effectiveness for people living with photophobia and other complex eye conditions.
CSEM’s world-class cleanroom facilities and MEMS expertise have been central to developing the ultra thin circuitry at the heart of our smart contact lens. Their agile support and professionalism enabled successful wafer production and testing, turning our concept into a robust medical device platform.
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