SemiNex Corporation Introduces Long-Chip TO-56 Packaged Lasers

For more information, contact:
Neal Stoker

VP Sales and Marketing
SemiNex Corporation
978-326-7703
nstoker@seminex.com

SemiNex Corporation announces the industry’s highest power 1550 nm pulsed laser diodes featuring SemiNex’s proven 2.5 mm-long laser diodes, packaged in an all-new long-chip TO-56 housing. The SemiNex long-chip TO-56 product redefines the pulsed laser market by offering 50% more power for most applications in the same radial form factor. Standard lens options meet the industry’s best performance for full utilization of the new higher powers, up to 35 watts.

The SemiNex TO-56 is ideal for demanding applications such as long-range range-finding and LiDAR, which require the high power and excellent optics to transmit laser light over the furthest possible distance. At 50% higher power, system designers now have an additional 50% margin in the critical signal-to-noise ratio at a given distance. Alternatively, system designers may use the extra power to increase useful operating distance by over 20% while maintaining a comparable signal-to-noise ratio to other laser solutions.

“Our customers are looking for ever-higher-power, pulsed, 1550 nm-lasers in standard TO-56 packages,” explained SemiNex CEO David Bean. “By packaging shorter, lower-power SemiNex chips, customers could often achieve their desired results. But the feedback that we kept getting was that they wanted a further step-change in power for their applications.”

Standard TO-56 packages currently produced with 1550 nm laser chips are typically considered “eye safe” and are most often implemented in LiDAR products that are used in populated areas. The 1550 nm wavelength has the added benefit of being invisible to traditional detecting equipment, which looks for wavelengths in the 900nm range.

With a body length of 6.7 mm, a diameter of 5.6 mm, and weighing approximately half a gram, the SemiNex TO-56 is small and light. The TO packaging allows the laser to be easily inserted into a socket, or soldered onto a PC board. Its compact size and versatile packaging make the product attractive for integration in a variety of systems. For many applications, the long-chip TO-56 is expected to be a drop-in replacement with only minor system changes for implementation.

To meet customer requirements, SemiNex searched worldwide to find TO-can packaging subcomponents to accommodate the 2.5 mm SemiNex laser diodes. After an extensive search, it was clear that no one had ever packaged such a long chip in this tiny package. Unable to find a suitable product on the market, SemiNex opted to design one from scratch. The design and validation process was lengthy, spanning over a year. It required designing everything from each sub-component to a modified chip mounting process. Precision materials with excellent mechanical and thermal properties were chosen for the TO-56 header, while special optical glass and sealing processes were deployed for the windowed cap. “Although this is considered a standard TO-56 product, it took extensive engineering and manufacturing development to implement our laser chip, which is over twice as long as is currently deployed in the marketplace,” stated Dr. John Callahan, Vice President of Engineering and Development.

TO-56 long-chip laser diodes are available in five standard emitter widths: 4, 50, 95, 180 and 350µm. SemiNex offers industry-leading 5 mrad fast-axis laser collimation lensing as a standard product option for all laser apertures. Alternatively, SemiNex provides collimation-matching of the fast- and slow-axes for systems designed to make use of this collimation parity to focus the light with bulk optics outside of the TO-56 package.

“SemiNex Corporation has a stellar reputation of listening to customer needs and developing products that meet their exact requirements,” said Neal Stoker, Vice President of Sales and Marketing. “The TO-56 package development effort was in direct response to customers’ requests for small packages with industry leading power.”

The TO-56 fits in nicely with SemiNex’s current array of products, which range from bare die and bars to multi-chip modules comprised of several 4-pin packages. The majority of interested customers are looking to use the TO-56 for military applications, such as illumination, range finding, LiDAR and targeting.

For more information, the TO-56 information sheet is available on the SemiNex website here. Sales can also be contacted directly with orders and requests for quotes:info@seminex.com.

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