EPC Power Conversion Corporation (EPC) eToF Laser Driver IC

     EPC Power Conversion Corporation (EPC) announces a laser driver IC (EPC21601) that integrates 40 V, 10 A FET, gate driver, and 3.3 V logic level input on a single chip for time-of-flight (ToF) lasers Radar systems for robots, surveillance security systems, drones, fully autonomous vehicles and vacuum cleaners.

     Controlled by 3.3 V logic, the EPC21601 can modulate and achieve laser drive currents up to 10 A at ultra-high frequencies in excess of 100 MHz and ultra-short pulses below 2 ns. The turn-on and turn-off times were 410 ps and 320 ps, respectively. The EPC21601 integrates a single-chip driver and gallium nitride field effect transistor (eGaN FET) based on EPC's proprietary gallium nitride IC technology in a chip-scale BGA package with a footprint of only 1.5 mm x 1.0 mm. Due to its small form factor and multiple integrated functions, it occupies a 36% smaller board area than an equivalent multi-chip, discrete solution.

      The EPC21601 is the first in a family of laser driver ICs available in a chip scale package (CSP). The benefits of integrating multiple devices on a single chip are ease of design, layout, and assembly, as well as saving board space, increasing efficiency, and reducing cost. This family of products will drive faster adoption and popularization of LiDAR solutions using ToF technology in a wider range of end-user applications.

     Alex Lidow, CEO and co-founder of EPC, said: “The latest advances in our gallium nitride integrated circuit technology have the potential to change the way time-of-flight lidar systems are designed. Integrating gallium nitride field effect transistors (eGaN FETs) on a single chip and drivers, resulting in powerful, ultra-fast ICs, and reducing system size and cost for adoption in consumer applications. A new family of gallium nitride integrated circuits will significantly improve performance while reducing time-of-flight size and cost reduction of lidar systems.”