Mini SFF Optical Transceiver Overview: A Beginner Guide

SFP transceiver may be the most popular form factor of optical transceiver in the market now. Most networking engineers know and are familiar with it. But do you know the Mini SFF transceiver? This article will give you a Mini SFF overview from the following aspects: definition, the difference between Mini SFF and SFF transceiver, application, etc.

What is Mini SFF Transceiver?

Before we talk about the Mini SFF transceiver, we need to know what an SFF transceiver is. SFF, short for Small Form-factor, is a standard used to describe the physical dimensions of an optical transceiver. The key features are the two rows of protruding pins (2×5 or 2×7 pin), as below picture.

At the beginning of the optical transceiver market, SFF was one of the main form factors, and there was no Mini SFF. But as some special Mil-Aero and rugged industrial applications require higher port density, Mini SFF is developed to provide a more compact form factor. Mini SFF is just like SFF, but with a smaller size (1/2 smaller than SFF). The critical feature of Mini SFF is the one row of recessed pins (1×10), as below picture.

Mini SFF vs. SFF Transceiver, What is the difference?

Now let us make a comparison between Mini SFF and SFF transceiver.

• Form Factor: As we have mentioned, the Mini SFF optical transceiver is 1/2 smaller than the SFF transceiver. So Mini SFF optical module is more suitable for applications requiring higher port density.
• Optical performance: The Mini SFF optical transceiver usually performs similarly to SFF.
• Pricing: mini SFF is a newer form factor, and its market is not as big as SFF, so Mini SFF optical transceivers are usually more expensive than the SFF ones.
• Application: Mini SFF optical transceiver is mainly used in Mil-Aero and rugged industrial applications, such as Ethernet over same spec SFF transceivers. But in fact, there are very few suppliers of SFF and Mini SFF optical transceivers.

Mini SFF Transceiver Types

Like the commonly SFP transceiver, the mini SFF transceiver can be divided into different types according to the data rate and wavelength. The below table shows the Mini SFF type and application.

• 155Mbps Mini SFF transceiver
• 1.25Gbps Mini SFF transceiver
• 10Gbps Mini SFF transceiver

Conclusion

The above is a Mini SFF optical transceiver overview from the definition, the difference between Mini SFF and SFF transceiver, application, etc. I hope it is a helpful guide for beginners. Nowadays, the Mini SFF optical transceiver is still not very popular; it is only suitable for minimal applications. So when you choose optical transceivers for your application, Mini SFF is not the first option you should consider.

Read more:

• Introduction to SFF Transceivers
• What is optical transceiver chip?
• 9 Key Points to Consider When Choosing a Fiber Optical Transceiver