SAN DIEGO, CA – Silanna has launched FirePower™ Octane, a matched laser-firing chipset for high-performance multi-channel LiDAR arrays.
The chipset has been created to lower the cost, complexity and power requirements of driving high-performance multi-channel lasers in LiDAR and time-of-flight ranging systems based on either VCSEL or EEL lasers.
This is enabled through the combination of Silanna’s pitch-matched SL2120 octal gate driver and SL2130 octal GaN FET array. Together they deliver over 200 W peak power per channel, sub‑1 ns pulses and a typical rise-and-fall time of 400 ps. The architecture can be scaled in 8-channel increments to support 64- and 128-channel laser arrays for both solid-state and scanning LiDAR.
Versus traditional implementations, systems using the chipset can reduce transmitter size by up to 70% and cost by more than 30%.
The FirePower Octane also combines precise, programmable control with high-current GaN switching in a compact, scalable architecture. This includes support for software-defined LiDAR with independent control of pulse timing, peak power, pulse repetition frequency and pulse-train generation on each channel.
This allows each channel to generate a unique optical signature, helping improve target discrimination, interference immunity, and detection performance. It also enables advanced techniques including correlation-based detection, pattern matching, waveform classification and false-return rejection.
LiDAR is a critical sensing technology for autonomous vehicles that more-reliably detects vehicles, pedestrians, and cyclists versus camera-only systems. It is also a key enabler of navigation, collision avoidance, and automation in industrial, warehouse and robotics applications.
“As LiDAR systems move toward higher resolutions with longer detection ranges, designers face growing challenges in cost, complexity, and scalability,” said Mark Drucker, President & CEO, Semiconductors at Silanna. “FirePower Octane combines precise control and high-power GaN switching in a matched 8-channel architecture optimized to deliver ‘Pitch-Perfect Power’. This combination enables smaller, more cost-effective laser transmitters while also providing the programmability and pulse performance needed for next-generation LiDAR systems.”
The SL2130 8-channel GaN FET is housed in a 36-ball 3.39 x 2.1 mm WLCSP package with a 250 µm pitch. It is the industry’s smallest octal device for EEL and VCSEL arrays and offers best-in-class figures of merit, an 80 V automotive rating and has a typical RDSon of 35 mΩ.
The SL2120 low-side octal gate driver offers a 1 ns minimum pulse width and can be driven from a 2.5 A peak source and 3 A peak sink current. It is housed in a 2.15 x 1.94 mm WLCSP package, has a sub-5 ns typical propagation delay and can be used in conjunction with both GaN and silicon FETs.
Both devices can also be used independently to give designers flexibility for custom transmitter architectures.
The FirePower Octane chipset and the individual SL2120 and SL2130 devices will be available through Silanna’s authorized distribution network. To register interest, download specifications, and order samples, visit: https://silanna.com/lidar-
