Laser Diode Drivers Support High Speed DVD/CD-R/RW

The ZL40510 and ZL40511 debut as the industry's first laser-diode drivers to support optical disk drives with x16 DVD and x52 CD write/rewrite speeds. According to the company, the drivers will allow DVD/CD recorders to write a 4.7 GB DVD, the equivalent of a two-hour movie, in less than six minutes. Both are four-channel devices that can drive two independent 650-nm DVD and 780-nm CD lasers. The ZL40510 supports speeds up to x16, while the ZL40511 targets existing x4 and x8 systems. Each includes three 500-mA write channels with 240x current gain and one 150-mA read channel with 100x current gain. Other shared features include rise times of 1.2 ns, fall times of 1.4 ns, typical 0.9 ns rise and 1.1 ns fall times over their full current range, propagation delays of 1.4 ns, and a channel-to- channel skew of 50 ps. The devices also include a switched oscillator with a programmable frequency range of 200 to 500 MHz and current range from 20 to 100 mAp-p. Available in 24-pin, 4 mm x 4 mm QFN packages, price for either driver is $0.65 each/100,000. ZARLINK SEMICONDUCTOR, Ottawa, Canada. (613) 592-0200.