# nRF52840 Chip Hardware Design Analysis

The nRF52840 is designed around an ARM Cortex-M4 CPU and floating-point unit (FPU), featuring 1MB of flash memory and 256kB of RAM. Consequently, it supports complex and demanding applications as a single-chip solution. It offers a rich set of peripherals, including NFC, USB, and multiple interface options such as Quad SPI (QSPI). In today's rapidly evolving IoT landscape, security is paramount in solution design. Nordic's nRF52840 incorporates high-end security features, including an on-chip ARM cryptographic engine and a complete AES 128-bit cryptographic suite for optimal secure performance. It demonstrates excellent application effectiveness in IoT scenarios, with dimensions of 24.8 × 15 × 2.3 mm.

Feature List

Nordic nRF52840 Embedded ARM Cortex M4F

Multi-protocol support

Bluetooth 5, ANT/ANT+, 2.4GHz proprietary protocols,

Thread, and Zigbee

Bluetooth 5: 2 Mbps, 1 Mbps, 500 kbps, 125 kbps

IEEE 802.15.4-2006: 250 kbps

Proprietary 2.4 GHz: 2 Mbps, 1 Mbps

Integrated DC-DC converter Serial Debug Interface (SWD)

Nordic SoftDevice Ready

Flash/RAM: 1MB/256KB. 48 general-purpose I/O pins

15-level low-power comparator with low-power wake-up 2 two-wire master/slave serial ports (I2C compatible)

I2S digital audio interface 12-bit/200KSPS ADC

1 QSPI serial port (32Mbps) 4 SPI master/3 SPI slave ports (8Mbps)

2 asynchronous UARTs (with CTS/RTS and DMA) 4x4 PWM channels with EasyDMA

USB 2.0 Full-Speed Controller (12 Mbps) 20-channel CPU-independent Programmable Peripheral Interface (PPI)

Quadrature Demodulator (QDEC) 128-bit AES Hardware Encryptor

5 x 32-bit, 3 x 24-bit Real-Time Clock (RTC) NFC-A Tag Interface for OOB Pairing

TX transmit power: +8dBm to -20dBm in 4 dB steps

Operating voltage: 1.7V to 5.5V

Applications

Advanced computer peripherals and I/O devices

Mice

Keyboards

Multi-touch touchpads

Premium wearables

Health/fitness sensors and monitoring devices

Wireless payment-enabled devices

Internet of Things

Smart home sensors and controllers

Industrial IoT sensors and controllers

Interactive entertainment devices

Remote controls

Game controllers

Block Diagram

![](https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1757311519335/3d7b6865-c815-44c8-b529-dc39a97269bc.png align="center")

The following illustrates several power supply configurations for the nRF52840

The voltage regulator can be configured in multiple ways depending on the selected power supply voltage mode (Normal/High) and regulator type option (LDO or DC/DC). The image below shows four configuration examples.

![](http://5b0988e595225.cdn.sohucs.com/images/20200422/31e6cbd505ad4854b01223d5b7854510.png align="left")

（1）：Normal voltage mode, LDO only

![](http://5b0988e595225.cdn.sohucs.com/images/20200422/571026df995347c9a5e736338ddeaa0f.png align="left")

（2）：Normal voltage mode, DC/DC REG1 enabled

![](http://5b0988e595225.cdn.sohucs.com/images/20200422/281b421411374e20b42f6d3a4e98760e.png align="left")

（3）：High voltage mode, LDO only

![](http://5b0988e595225.cdn.sohucs.com/images/20200422/355cd3c7a0034ad08a6822f687e45909.png align="left")

（4）：High voltage mode, DC/DC for REG0 and REG1 enabled

Schematic Design

![](http://5b0988e595225.cdn.sohucs.com/images/20200422/a75ab5c9123f49ac857f9905a005ae77.png align="left")