An 80 A, 2 to 25 ns Configurable Pulse-Width Integrated CMOS Pulsed Laser Driver with On-Chip Mounted Laser Diode

This paper introduces a pulsed laser diode driver capable of driving up to 80 A pulses. An internal pulse generator containing a phase-locked loop (PLL) allows configuring the width of the pulses up to 25 ns, in steps of 250 ps, making it suitable for multiple applications. A novel assembly is used, where the laser diode is mounted on top of the chip containing the laser driver to reduce the parasitic inductances through the laser diode current path. Consequently, only 30 V are needed for successfully driving the system. Adjustment of the pulse-width allows generating 2.3 ns energetic optical pulses of 180 W full width at half maximum (FWHM). The integrated circuit has been manufactured on standard HV CMOS 180 nm process.