Silanna Semiconductor’s FirePower ICs Boost and Charge, All on One Chip

Silanna Semiconductor has announced that its FirePower SL2001 and SL2002 laser-firing system ICs are now available in production quantities. The devices target LiDAR, time-of-flight (ToF), and rangefinding applications for scopes and the industrial and automotive industries. 

Silanna claims its SL2001 and SL2002 are the "industry’s smallest, most efficient laser-firing system ICs."
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Both ICs use resonant capacitor charging and a high-current laser diode that fires from a single chip, eliminating the multiple discrete components typically required in laser driver implementations and the inefficiencies associated with separate power conversion stages. Silanna positions the FirePower family as a way to reduce board area and simplify the design of laser-based measurement systems.

SL2001 for Automotive, High-Power LiDAR

Siilanna designed the SL2001 for automotive-grade LiDAR systems and high-power time-of-flight applications. It supports sub-2-ns full-width, half-maximum (FWHM) laser pulses and delivers peak output power of up to 1,000 W when operating from a 3-V to 24-V supply.

Application circuit for the SL2001. 

The device integrates a boost charger, proprietary charge control, and a GaN/MOSFET driver to charge and discharge a resonant capacitor that drives either edge-emitting laser (EEL) diodes or VCSEL arrays. Inductor current control maintains a consistent level of resonant capacitor energy, even when the input voltage fluctuates. The integrated architecture allows the supply voltage to be as low as 3 V while achieving laser diode voltages exceeding 80 V.

Dual-fire output pins allow the SL2001 to drive multiple laser diodes in parallel for higher peak-power configurations. A dual-polarity light output signal provides a low-jitter timing reference for time-of-flight measurements, with time-error jitter below 0.1 ns. The device supports repetition rates up to 10 MHz, subject to thermal limits in the laser and surrounding components. 

It also includes an I²C interface for output power control and fault monitoring, along with on-chip programmable memory for timing and fault configuration. In one example, pairing the SL2001 with a 400-W quad EEL module can reduce the system footprint from approximately 400 mm² to 80 mm².

SL2002 for Low-Voltage, Compact Systems

Silanna designed the SL2002 for handheld, battery-powered, compact LiDAR systems—specifically those that operate from a 2.8-V to 5.5-V supply and deliver 100-W laser pulses at 1-MHz repetition rate, subject to thermal constraints.

As with the SL2001, the SL2002 combines a timing controller, boost voltage generator, and laser driver into a single device, charging the resonant capacitor via an internal boost charger and eliminating the need for an external boost regulator. The SL2002 IC also integrates a charge pump that supplies the required gate drive voltage for external GaN or MOSFET devices.

Functional block diagram of the SL2002.

The device supports sub-3-ns laser pulses and is compatible with edge-emitting lasers (EELs) and VCSEL arrays. Output power can be adjusted through an I²C interface by controlling the resonant capacitor's charge level. Optional fuse settings allow users to tune the charger input voltage. It consumes less than 5 mW with no load.

Both the SL2001 and SL2002 are offered in compact wafer-level chip-scale packages and are available along with evaluation kits through distribution.

By integrating charging, firing, and control functions into a single IC, Silanna positions its FirePower devices to reduce board area, simplify design, and improve efficiency in LiDAR and laser-based measurement systems.

All images used courtesy of Silanna Semiconductor.