저전력 무선 IoT 솔루션 기업 노르딕 세미컨덕터(Nordic Semiconductor)는 자사의 4세대 블루투스 LE SoC(Bluetooth® Low Energy Systems-on-Chip) 제품군인 nRF54 시리즈에 신규 제품을 추가했다고 19일 밝혔다. 새로운 nRF54L 시리즈는 2015년 출시 이후 수많은 고객들에게 채택돼 수십억 개가 공급된 SoC인 nRF52 시리즈의 후속 제품이다.
High processing performance and large memory capacity
nRF54L15, supporting development of various IoT devices
Nordic Semiconductor sets new standards in performance, efficiency, and security with the introduction of the nRF54L Series.
Nordic Semiconductor, a leading global supplier of low power wireless IoT solutions, today announces additions to its nRF54 Series, its fourth generation Bluetooth® Low Energy Systems-on-Chip (SoC) family. The new nRF54L Series succeeds the nRF52 Series, a range of SoCs that have been adopted by customers and shipped in the billions since their launch in 2015.
The nRF54L series is based on a new hardware architecture using TSMC’s 22ULL® (22nm) technology. The existing RF54H series is manufactured using GlobalFoundries’ 22FDX® (22nm) process. Nordic has invested in two wafer suppliers to increase supply chain flexibility.
The nRF54L series complements the recently announced nRF54H series. The nRF54L series is suitable for a wide range of applications from general-purpose products to advanced devices, while the nRF54H series has processing performance and large memory.
The nRF54L15, the first SoC in the nRF54L series, is a solution for the next generation of wireless IoT products. The SoC supports a wide range of IoT applications, including medical and healthcare, smart home, industrial IoT, VR/AR, PC accessories, remote controls, and game controllers.
The nRF54L15 SoC features an Arm® Cortex®-M33 processor running at 128MHz, which provides twice the processing performance of the nRF52840 SoC while reducing power consumption. It also supports 1.5MB of non-volatile memory and 256KB of RAM, providing ample memory capacity to run multiple protocols simultaneously.
The nRF54L15 SoC integrates advanced hardware and software security features to support the next generation of IoT. The SoC is designed to be compliant with the PSA Certified IoT security standard PSA Certified Level 3. It also provides secure services such as secure boot, secure firmware updates, and secure storage. It also features a tamper sensor to detect attacks and take protective action, and a hardened cryptographic accelerator to deal with side-channel attacks.
The nRF54L15 features a best-in-class multiprotocol radio, delivering up to +8 dBm TX power (in 1 dB increments) and -98 dBm RX sensitivity at 1 Mbps Bluetooth LE. It also includes a new 4 Mbps performance option for 2.4 GHz proprietary protocols that deliver improved throughput, efficiency, and latency. This SoC supports all the features of Bluetooth 5.4, as well as Bluetooth Mesh, Thread, and Matter, and has the ability to support future Bluetooth specification updates.
Wireless power consumption has been significantly improved over the nRF52 Series, both on TX and RX. Compared to Nordic’s existing nRF52840 SoC, wireless RX current has been halved (running from a 1.8V DC supply), enabling the use of smaller batteries or extended battery life by reducing energy consumption.
A new Global Real-Time Clock (RTC) peripheral can wake the SoC from its deepest sleep modes without the need for an external RTC, providing additional energy savings and significantly reducing power consumption in applications that sleep for long periods. This capability can extend battery life by up to several years in certain products.
The nRF54L15 is currently sampling in a 6 mm x 6 mm QFN package with 31 GPIOs. The SoC is also available in two ultra-small 2.4 mm x 2.2 mm Wafer-Level Chip Scale Package (WLCSP) variants with 32 GPIOs (300 µm pitch) and 14 GPIOs (350 µm pitch). The nRF54L15’s WLCSP is more than 50% smaller than the existing nRF52840 WLCSP, making it suitable for tightly sized designs. The nRF54L15 SoC is currently sampling to lead customers.
“The nRF54L series is a significant step forward for Nordic as we continue to reinforce our position as a global leader in Bluetooth LE and low power wireless IoT technology,” says Svenn-Tore Larsen, CEO of Nordic Semiconductor. “With our world-class low power wireless engineering team and our commitment to investing heavily in R&D, we have once again reached a new low power wireless milestone. Our new series will enable numerous customers to dramatically improve the performance of their products, extend battery life, and realize even more innovative designs.”