Norway’s OSLO, November 18, 2024 Nordic Semiconductor has introduced its nRF54L Series of wireless SoCs, which includes the new nRF54L10 and nRF54L05 in addition to the previously announced nRF54L15. With greatly increased efficiency, remarkable processing power, and flexible design options to satisfy a wide range of Bluetooth LE and IoT applications as well as client requests, this cutting-edge product line establishes new industry standards.
Applications ranging from straightforward, high-volume goods to more complex and demanding designs are supported by the new nRF54L Series, which consists of three devices that combine a 2.4 GHz radio and MCU functionality, including CPU, memory, and peripherals, into a single ultra-low power semiconductor. Wearables, smart rings, gaming controllers, HID devices, medical equipment, smart homes, and industrial IoT goods are some of the main uses. While the nRF54L10 and nRF54L05 are designed for high-volume applications like asset trackers, smart tags, electronic shelf labels, and other cost-sensitive IoT devices, the nRF54L15 is best suited for more demanding applications.
Equipped for tomorrow’s advanced IoT products
All of the nRF54L Series SoCs have an Arm Cortex-M33 processor with a clock speed of 128 MHz and a 2.4G Hz radio that uses very little power. By supporting wireless protocol stacks and sophisticated application software on a single chip, they eliminate the need for external MCUs or extra memory.
For demanding applications, the nRF54L15’s 1.5 MB non-volatile memory (NVM) and 256 KB RAM provide the most memory capacity in the series. The nRF54L05, with its 0.5 MB NVM and 96 KB RAM, is designed for less demanding, budget-conscious applications, while the nRF54L10 offers a mid-range solution with 1.0 MB NVM and 192 KB RAM.
Up to 35 GPIOs and an ultra-compact 2.4 by 2.2 mm WLCSP packaging variant are available in this product line, which is 50% smaller than the similar nRF52840. A variety of pin-to-pin compatible QFN packaging for the nRF54L Series 6×6 provide design flexibility and save production costs.
The product series has a low-power RISC-V coprocessor in addition to its increased memory options, allowing for compact designs and addressing advanced application needs without the need for extra external components. This lowers BOM costs.
Improved support for multiple protocols
With improved features such up to 4 Mbps communication rate, the nRF54L Series supports 2.4 GHz proprietary protocols, Bluetooth LE, Bluetooth Mesh, Thread, Matter, Zigbee, Amazon Sidewalk, and more. Future-proof, the series may handle Bluetooth 6.0, which includes Bluetooth Channel Sounding.
Next generation wireless SoCs
The industry-leading nRF52 Series is enhanced with the nRF54L Series, which doubles processing power, triples processing efficiency, and uses even less power. The new products incorporate unique intellectual property (IP) including low-leakage RAM and cutting-edge radio technologies, and they are based on Nordic’s extensive design experience. A groundbreaking shift to the 22 nm production node (TSMC’s 22ULL technology) has increased ultra-low power capabilities and processing efficiency while also greatly bolstering Nordic’s supply chain’s resilience.
Development assistance and accessibility
The whole nRF54L Series, including the nRF54L10 and nRF54L05, is now widely accessible for testing and development with the release of the new nRF54L15 DK (Development Kit). Together with comprehensive documentation, interactive online classes, and top-notch technical support, it includes an ecosystem of tools that facilitates development and proof of ideas rapidly.
RF54L15 is now sampling a restricted group of consumers. Toward the end of this year, RF54L05, RF54L10, and RF54L15 will all begin full-volume production.