Atmel Corporation announced the availability of the world's smallest dual-output laser diode driver ICs for the next generation of combined DVDR, DVDRW and CD-R/RW end products. The new devices ATR0807 and ATR0808 extend Atmel's successful family of dual-output laser diode drivers.

The ATR0807 and the ATR0808 are three-channel laser diode driver ICs with two selectable outputs. The two identical outputs can either be used for DVD- or CD-RW laser diodes. Each of them supports currents up to 500 mA. Rise and fall times are lower than 0.8 ns. This allows the development of DVD/CD drives with write speeds of 4 to 8 times for DVD and up to 52 times for CD.

These are industry's first such products in extra-small 4 mm x 4 mm QFN16 packages for space-saving applications, which makes them the first choice for the new DVDR/RW and CD-R/RW super combo drives that integrate re-writeable DVD and CD drive in one device.

Due to their architecture, the ATR0807/ ATR0808 can also be used for all other applications supporting two different laser diodes. All current DVD standards like DVD-R, DVD, DVD and DVD-RW are supported.

The input impedance of the ATR0807 is 500 Ohm, whereas it is 200 Ohm for the ATR0808.

Samples of the ATR0807/ ATR0808 in QFN16 (4 mm x 4 mm x 0.9 mm) packages are available now. SSO16-packaged versions for low-cost HH drive applications, either Pb-free or in legacy package, are also available. Pricing for both SSO16 and QFN16 versions start at 2.60 US$ (10 k).