White Paper
Smallest Thinnest Power Modules for Data Center Optical Modules
May, 2023
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© 2023 Renesas Electronics
Vidisha Gupta, Staff Applications Engineer, Renesas Electronics Corp.
May 2023
Abstract
Data transmission rates in optical communication field are on a constant rise. This paper describes the
ever-increasing demand for highly integrated, small form factor, low profile yet thermally superior and
electrically efficient power supply solution to support these high data rates and large amount of data
transfer. It then follows to highlight Renesas’s best in class mini power modules ideal for space-constrained
applications such as optical modules, wearables, Home IoT, Medical equipment etc
What is an Optical Module?
An optical module is one of the core components of fiber-optic communication where its transmitting end
converts the electrical signal to an optical signal and the receiving end converts the optical signal back to an
electrical signal. It mainly consists of light-emitting components (such as lasers), light-receiving components
(such as detectors), driving circuits, and photoelectric interfaces.
The optical module is majorly employed in the field of data communication. Data traffic has increased
manifold with the emergence and rise of big data, blockchain, cloud computing, the IoT, artificial intelligence,
and 5G, and optical interconnection of data centers and mobile communications has become a research
hotspot in the optical communications industry.
The interconnections internal to the data centers account largely for the overall traffic distribution of the data
center. Since in high-capacity data centers, multiple copper-fiber connections are required, multiple numbers
of optical modules are used. Each optical module is exposed to a high volume of data packets and therefore,
design engineers for high-capacity data centers often face challenges for optical modules. Due to this the
development trends are increasingly towards high speed, low power consumption, low cost, demand for
performance efficiency, higher integration, and higher power density.
Smallest Thinnest Power Modules for Data Center Optical Modules
May, 2023
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Trend towards High Speed:
Figure 1: High Speed Trends in Optical Modules (reference 1)
While the data rates are transitioning from 400Gbps to 800Gbps with large scale deployment to be realized
towards 2023-2024 (per the above graph), the power supply solution must still meet the form factor and
thermal requirements of the previous generation of optical module. Higher data rate means higher currents
for high performance Digital Signal Processor (DSP) or Clock and Data Recovery (CDR) Chips and MCUs
that often push the power supplies at the back of the PCB where the height is limited to <1.2mm.
Figure 2: Optical Module Power Architecture showing where Renesas mini modules fit in
Renesas’s Smallest Thinnest Modules for Optical modules
Renesas proudly offers RAA210040 and RAA210030 power modules that are compact, synchronous step-
down, non-isolated complete power supply, capable of delivering up to 4A and 3A of continuous current
respectively. By operating from a single 2.7V to 5.5V input power rail and integrating the controller, gate
driver, power inductor, and MOSFETs, these mini modules are optimized for space-constrained applications
like optical modules, wearables, IoT, networking. RAA210030 is the industry’s smallest and thinnest over-
molded package that provides 3A of continuous output current. The total solution size is just about 18.5mm
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