ToF in driver assistance systems relies on speed and accuracy of object detection. The board’s fast transition EPC2216 eGaN FETs to drives laser with currents up to 28A with pulse widths as low as 1.2ns, enhancing the accuracy, precision, and processing speed of ToF and flash lidar systems, says Efficient Power Conversion (EPC).

The rapid transition capability of the AEC Q101-qualified eGaN provides power pulses to drive laser diodes, vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) or LEDs up to 10 times faster than an equivalent MOSFET, in a small fraction of the area, energy, and cost, says the company.

eGaN FETs and ICs provide the high current pulses, extremely narrow pulse widths, and small size that make affordable, high performance lidar possible, it maintains. The short pulse width leads to higher resolution and the small size and low cost make them suitable for ToF applications in cost-sensitive markets from automotive to industrial, healthcare to smart advertising, gaming, and security.

The demonstration board ships with an interposer board. This is a collection of 5.0 x 5.0mm interposer PCBs with footprints to accommodate different lasers, RF connectors and other footprints designed for experimentation with different loads. The use of the interposers allows many different lasers or other loads to be mounted, allowing users to test the performance with the load requirements that are appropriate to an application.

According to the company, GaN is a critical factor in making affordable, high performance lidar possible in self-driving cars, facial recognition, warehouse automation, drones and topological mapping.

The EPC9144 can also be used for applications requiring a ground-referenced eGaN FET, for example, in class E or similar circuits, advises the company.