Quieting down the format war

Melexis introduces the lowest noise Photo Detector IC and the fastest Automatic Power Control IC for both HD-DVD and Blu-Ray applications.

Ieper, Belgium – May 3rd, 2007 – Advanced disk storage technology is the key to both HD-DVD and Blu-ray performance. Reading these next generation disks demands a low system noise performance and fast response time. With several companies producing the media it further challenges the system design requirements. The difficulty in maintaining a very low, system noise level has limited the capability of next generation systems.

Melexis, with the introduction of the MLX75013 Photo Detector IC and the MLX75010 Automatic Power Control IC, now provides an enabling technology for our OEM partners allowing them to overcome the noise and gain issues limiting next generation systems.

The MLX75013 Photo Detector IC delivers an unprecedented noise rating of better than -90dBm (RBW=30Khz) on a single channel up to 140Mhz at the highest gain and better than -85dBm on the summing channels up to 140Mhz at the highest gain. This unparalleled result will allow designs to take full advantage of the high capacity disk technology now on the market. To further simplify the design challenge, the MLX75013 has several gain settings to accommodate the different read and write requirements of our OEM partners. The MLX75013 will operate with 400nM (Blu-ray and HD-DVD), 650nM (DVD), and 780nM (CD) wavelengths to provide a one chip solution for multi-drive applications.

Melexis has consistently delivered the best technical solutions in the industry to our strategic partners for two of the key analog products required in these systems. The first product, the Photo Detector IC (PDIC), detects the laser beam reflected from the disk and converts the light signal to an electronic signal. This signal is then fed back to the main system and decoded as data (a movie perhaps).

The PDIC development has benefited from Melexis strong optoelectronic design and packaging capabilities. As a market leader in linear optical arrays used in automotive steering systems Melexis has solved many previously intractable challenges in applying photodiodes in high temperature, high stress environments.

The second product, MLX75010, an Automatic Power Control circuit (APC), detects and controls the laser power delivered to the disk during the write (and sometimes read) operation. In the next generation of readable and writeable disks, regulating the laser diode power is very important for system reliability and longevity. This requires a power control loop that can respond quickly to fluctuations in the laser power.

The MLX75010 has a best in class 800V/uS slew rate. It can drive a 30pF load with an incredible 8nS settling time at nominal gain. This part has a typical bandwidth of 200Mhz. The MLX75010 will work with 400nM, 650nM, and 780nM wavelengths to accommodate HD-DVD and Blu-Ray formats, all DVD formats, and all CD formats.

“Due to our unparalleled design talent and manufacturing abilities, our partners in Japan and around the world have requested we continue working with them to define and create the next generation chips for this industry. We have had nothing but enthusiastic responses to the performance of our HD-DVD and Blu-ray chip set” said David Poole, General Manager, Melexis Japan.

About Melexis
Melexis N.V. (Euronext Brussels: MELE) is a supplier of smart mixed-signal semiconductors. Our core experience derived from more than ten years supplying ICs to the automotive electronics market sustains the expansion into Application Specific Standard Products for industrial and consumer product applications. Melexis’ products include sensor ICs (Hall-effect, optical, infrared and Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems or MEMS), communication ICs (low power RF, RFID and Automotive BUS), actuator ICs (for electric motors, solenoids and LEDs) and Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs). Further information about Melexis can be found at http://www.melexis.com