Optical Pickup Device that Achieves 8-Speed Blu-ray Recording and Playback

The Industrys Highest Level of Low-Noise and High-Speed Performance Breaking the Technological Barriers to 8-Speed Blu-ray Recording and Playback
RF/Servo (PDIC)
Built-in wideband (230 MHz) I-V amplifier Low noise (-4.4 dB at 176 MHz compared to current products) Multi-stage gain switching (IV: 8 stages) High-sensitivity photodetector (0.3 A/W at 405 nm)
Blu-ray Discs are used in a wide range of products including recorders, PCs, and games, and the popularity of this technology is expected to increase rapidly. To realize the potential of the Blu-ray Disc even further, Sony is continuing development efforts aimed at achieving recording and playback at Blu-ray Disc speeds of 8 and higher and at achieving even higher recording capacities through even higher layer counts in multilayer Blu-ray Disc media. Improving the performance of the optical pickup (OP) is critical to achieving these goals and in particular, the photodetector IC (PDIC) and laser diode driver (LDD) mounted in the OP hold the key to these improvements. To achieve 8 Blu-ray Disc recording and playback, two or more times the bandwidth of existing 16 DVD recording and playback OPs and even lower noise are required. This is extremely difficult for current device and circuit technologies. To resolve these Blu-ray Disc issues, Sony has developed a new BiCMOS proDisc

cess for PDICs and has achieved both low noise and fast response times. By increasing the compatibility with the PDIC while at the same time increasing the performance of the LDD as well, Sony has proposed a new architecture for 8-speed Blu-ray Disc recording and playback.

Devices Mounted in the OP

In general, both an LDD that drives the laser and PDICs, which are photodetector ICs, are mounted in the OP. There are two PDICs: an RF/servo signal detection PDIC that converts the light reflected from the disc to an electrical signal and a power monitor PDIC that monitors the laser power. (See figure 1.) The RF/servo PDIC has the roles of detecting both control signals, such as the OP focus signal and the tracking signal, and the playback data signal from the light reflected from the disc. The power monitor PDIC is a device that functions as the metric for the

Power Monitor (PDIC)

Rapid settling: 6 ns (Typ.) Wide-range gain adjustment function (differential gain: 0.24 to 44.4 V/mW) Built-in sample-and-hold circuit Serial interface

Laser Diode Driver (LDD)

Operating frequency: 16 to 530 MHz Minimum 59 ps (1/32T) resolution Built-in write strategy Sampling pulse output for external sample-andhold function Maximum drive current BD: 550 mA, CD/DVD: 1000 mA
Power monitor PDIC LD

RF/SERVO PDIC

LDD

<Optical pickup>
Figure 1 Optical Pickup Structure Overview

Input Noise (RF)

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 Current (Sony) New (Sony)

Input Noise [pA/Hz]

4.4 dB

50

100 Frequency [MHz]

150

200

Figure 2 Noise Characteristics Comparison

laser automatic power control (APC) system. This device directly monitors the laser output and monitors the laser power during reading and writing.

PDIC - RF/Servo
Extremely fast response and gain settings that support the recording and playback levels for a variety of media are required to achieve practical 8-speed Blu-ray Disc recording and playback. Also, as the speed multiple increases, the PDIC becomes the main contributing factor to noise in the playback signal. Therefore the designers cannot simply aim to increase the bandwidth, they must also achieve lower noise. In the RF/servo PDIC developed in this effort using a new process, Sony (a) reduced the parasitic capacitance by using finer fabrication, (b) used high-precision capacitors, and (c)

took full advantage of new circuit technologies to achieve a multi-stage (8-stage) gain switching in the transimpedance amplifier and at the same time reduce the noise by a significant -4.4 dB (as compared to current Sony products). (See figure 2.) Also, to make it possible to achieve 8-speed Blu-ray Disc recording and playback, Sony achieved the wide bandwidth of fc = 230 MHz, which is approximately twice that of current products. (See figure 3.) This performance is fully adequate to handle the fastest signals that occur in 8-speed Blu-ray Disc playback (the 2T iteration 8 = 132 MHz).

PDIC - Power Monitor

Improving the response speed of the power monitor PDIC is required to achieve 8-speed Blu-ray Disc recording. When reading out data during playback,

the laser operates in a DC optical generation mode, and it is not necessary for the power monitor to respond quickly. However, when writing data to a disc, the laser operates in a pulse optical generation mode, and rapidly changing signals are input. The APC system during recording samples both the mark level when writing data to the disc and the space level when not writing data, and this operation is established by correct monitoring of the laser output. The longest mark or space period in 8-speed Blu-ray Disc recording is 15.15 ns, and the power monitor output signal must settle within this period. The power monitor PDIC developed using a new process during this effort achieves both a wide range gain adjustment function (see figure 4) and the highspeed settling performance (8 ns, Typ.) required for 8-speed Blu-ray Disc recording while transmitting over a flexible

Frequency Response (RF output)

+3 New (Sony) Current (Sony) 0 Gain [dB] fc = 230 MHz 3 Sensitivity [V/mW]

Power Monitor Total Gain

50 40 Mode EH 30 20 10 0 Mode L Mode M Mode H Current adjust range 256

9 1 10 100 Frequency [MHz] 1000

64

128 Gain Setting [dec]

192

Figure 3 Frequency Characteristics Comparison

Rise Response
2.0 1.8 1.6 Output Voltage [V] Sony new 1.2 Sony current 1.0 0.8 0.6 0.4 0.2 0.0 5 0 +5 +10 Time [ns] +15 +20 Output Voltage [V] 1.4

Figure 4 Gain Adjustment Range

Fall Response
2.0 1.8 1.6 1.4 1.2 1.0 0.8 0.6 0.4 0.2 0.0 5 0 +5 +10 Time [ns] +15 +20 Sony new Sony current

Figure 5 Power Monitor Response Waveforms

PC board. (See figure 5.) We also reduced the number of external components in the OP by moving the external resistor conventionally required for gain adjustment into the IC. Sony has additionally proposed integrating the sample-and-hold circuit in the power monitor. (See figure 6.) In the conventional approach, reduced settling performance and other signal degradations occur when transmitting analog signals to the flexible PC board. Sony, however, eliminated the influence of the transmission to the flexible PC board by integrating the sample-and-hold circuit in the power monitor developed in this project. This made it possible to achieve fast settling characteristics (6 ns Typ.). By integrating the sample-and-hold circuit, it became possible to assure a fully adequate sampling margin even in the narrow sampling interval in 8-speed Blu-ray Disc recording. (See figure 7.)

LDD
Writable optical discs record data as low reflectivity mark sections and high reflectivity space sections. It is, however, actually impossible to write data with a difference in laser power of only a factor of two. Therefore it is necessary to provide multiple levels of laser power and to control the timing of the edges where the power level changes with high precision to support a wide variety of media. This timing control function is called the write strategy (WS). (See figure 8.) In the structure of a typical writable optical disc drive, the write strategy timing and the APC power monitoring signals are transmitted over a flexible flat cable (FFC). In 8-speed Blu-ray Disc recording, the signal degradation due to this transmission would have a large negative impact on recording quality. (See figure 9.)

For the LDD developed in this effort Sony proposed a structure that does not require transmission of high-speed signals over a flexible flat cable by not only integrating the write strategy function, but also by supplying the sampling pulse signal from the previously mentioned power monitor PDIC that includes an integrated sampleand-hold circuit. Sony suppressed the power consumption increase due to the write strategy integration that includes implementing complex write strategy patterns to a practical level by major revisions of the circuit architecture. Since the APC power control system also follows the current interface method, it will be easy to achieve the transition to this Sony proposed system. (See figure 10.) While the 8-speed Blu-ray Disc recording channel clock will be 530 MHz, these devices achieve both an adequately low jitter and a uniform 59 ps resolution as the basic performance required to assure recording quality. (See figure 11.)

S/H pulse
P GCA

Sampling pulse 1ns

VoutP

Power monitor internal out

IV

S/H
N

VoutN

20 ns

20 ns

Sampling pulse delay

Test pattern
Integration of the Multi-stage external variable resistor circuit Addition of a sample-and-hold circuit
2.0 1.8

New S/H Response

Sampling pulse width = 1ns

Figure 6 Power Monitor Structure

Output Voltage [V]

1.6 1.4 1.2 1.0 0.8 0.6 Settling time: 6 ns Sampling region New

4T
NRZI data

2T

2T

2T

3T

Write strategy

0.4 0.2 Optical input 0.0 5 0 +5 +10 +15 Sampling Pulse Delay [ns] +20 +25

Figure 8 Write Strategy Example

Figure 7

Sample-and-Hold Characteristics Evaluation Test pattern

Future Developments
Sony has proposed devices for use in optical pickups that can achieve 8-speed Blu-ray Disc recording and playback. Keep your eye on Sony for PDIC and LDD devices that can support higher capacities through increased Blu-ray Disc recording and playback speeds and multilayer media.
(1) APC Sampling OP Main board
NRZI data 8T@BD 8 = 15.15 ns

RF amplifier FM-PDIC

(1)
Power monitor

APC

Space sampling S/H Read APC Power monitor waveform Flexible cable transmission and circuit delay

Current LDD Current amplifier Power control

Mark sampling S/H Write APC Variations in the amount of delay

DSP

Sampling pulse

The sampling gate cannot be opened

Current SW

(2)

Timing gen. Write strategy Write strategy

(2) Timing Pulse Transmission

Data/clock
NRZI data 4T Write strategy 2T
2T

2T

3T

Flexible flat cable (FFC)

LVDS waveform

The shortest is roughly 1T (1.88 ns)

Figure 9 Problems with Existing Architectures for 8-Speed Blu-ray Disc Operation

Edge displacement due to inter-code interference in the shortest pulses.

OP
FM-PDIC

<2> APC sampling internally in the FM-PDIC that takes advantage of a new process technology Space sampling S/H Mark sampling S/H Power monitor <3> Power control based on a specified voltage that follows the existing APC system. Power control

Main board
RF amplifier APC

File Vertical Timebase Trigger Display Cursors Measure Math Analysis Utilities Help

WS-LDD Current amplifier

Sampling pulse

DSP
C2

Timing gen. Write strategy Data/clock Write strategy Data/clock

C2 DC50 100 mV/div 50.0 mV ofst Timebase 1.72 ns RIS 500 ps/div 1.00 kS 200 GS/s Trigger Stop Edge C2 0 mV Negative

Current SW

<1> Achieving both the complex WS patterns expected for 8-speed Blu-ray Disc recording and reduction in power consumption to a practical level through revision of the WS architecture

LeCroy

Figure 10 Product Concepts for a Built-in Write Strategy LDD that Achieves 8-Speed Blu-ray Disc Operation

Figure 11 8-Speed Blu-ray Disc: 59 ps Timing Resolution