Copyright © 2013 Nordic Semiconductor ASA. All rights reserved.
Reproduction in whole or in part is prohibited without the prior written permission of the copyright holder.
nRF51822
Multiprotocol Bluetooth® 4.0 low energy/2.4 GHz RF SoC
Product Specification v1.3
Key Features
•2.4 GHz transceiver
• -93 dBm sensitivity in Bluetooth® low energy
mode
• 250 kbps, 1 Mbps, 2 Mbps supported data rates
• TX Power -20 to +4 dBm in 4 dB steps
• TX Power -30 dBm Whisper mode
• 13 mA peak RX, 10.5 mA peak TX (0 dBm)
• RSSI (1 dB resolution)
• ARM® Cortex™-M0 32 bit processor
• 275 μA/MHz running from flash memory
• 150 μA/MHz running from RAM
• Serial Wire Debug (SWD)
• S100 series SoftDevice ready
•Memory
• 256 kB or128 kB embedded flash program
memory
• 16 kB RAM
• Support for non-concurrent multiprotocol operation
• On-air compatibility with nRF24L series
• Flexible Power Management
• Supply voltage range 1.8 V to 3.6 V
• 2.5 μs wake-up using 16 MHz RCOSC
• 0.4 μA @ 3 V OFF mode
• 0.5 μA @ 3 V in OFF mode + 1 region RAM
retention
• 2.3 μA @ 3 V ON mode, all blocks IDLE
• 8/9/10 bit ADC - 8 configurable channels
• 31 General Purpose I/O Pins
• One 32 bit and two 16 bit timers with counter mode
•SPI Master
• Two-wire Master (I2C compatible)
•UART (CTS/RTS)
• CPU independent Programmable Peripheral Interconnect
(PPI)
• Quadrature Decoder (QDEC)
• AES HW encryption
• Real Timer Counter (RTC)
• Package variants
• QFN48 package, 6 x 6 mm
• WLCSP package, 3.50 x 3.83 mm
Applications
• Computer peripherals and I/O devices
•Mouse
•Keyboard
• Multi-touch trackpad
• Interactive entertainment devices
• Remote control
• 3D Glasses
• Gaming controller
• Personal Area Networks
• Health/fitness sensor and monitor
devices
•Medical devices
• Key-fobs + wrist watch
• Remote control toys
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nRF51822 Product Specification v1.3
Liability disclaimer
Nordic Semiconductor ASA reserves the right to make changes without further notice to the product to
improve reliability, function or design. Nordic Semiconductor ASA does not assume any liability arising out
of the application or use of any product or circuits described herein.
Life support applications
Nordic Semiconductor’s products are not designed for use in life support appliances, devices, or systems
where malfunction of these products can reasonably be expected to result in personal injury. Nordic
Semiconductor ASA customers using or selling these products for use in such applications do so at their
own risk and agree to fully indemnify Nordic Semiconductor ASA for any damages resulting from such
improper use or sale.
Contact details
For your nearest distributor, please visit www.nordicsemi.com.
Information regarding product updates, downloads, and technical support can be accessed through your
My Page account on our home page.
RoHS and REACH statement
Nordic Semiconductor's products meet the requirements of Directive 2002/95/EC of the European
Parliament and of the Council on the Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) and the requirements of
the REACH regulation (EC 1907/2006) on Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of
Chemicals. The SVHC (Substances of Very High Concern) candidate list is continually being updated.
Complete hazardous substance reports, material composition reports and latest version of Nordic's REACH
statement can be found on our website www.nordicsemi.com.
Main office:
Phone: +47 72 89 89 00
Fax: +47 72 89 89 89
Otto Nielsens veg 12
7052 Trondheim
Norway
Mailing address:
Nordic Semiconductor
P.O. Box 2336
7004 Trondheim
Norway
Page 3 of 67
nRF51822 Product Specification v1.3
Datasheet Status
Revision History
Status Description
Objective Product Specification (OPS)
This product specification contains target specifications for product
development.
Preliminary Product Specification (PPS)
This product specification contains preliminary data; supplementary
data may be published from Nordic Semiconductor ASA later.
Product Specification (PS)
This product specification contains final product specifications. Nordic
Semiconductor ASA reserves the right to make changes at any time
without notice in order to improve design and supply the best possible
product.
Date Version Description
May 2013 1.3 Updated schematics and BOMs in Section 11.3 on page 61.
April 2013 1.2 Added chip variant nRF51822-CEAA. Updated feature list on front page.
Updated
Section 3.2.1 on page 15, Section 3.2.2 on page 15, Chapter 6 on page 28,
Section 10.4 on page 52, and Section 10.5.1 on page 53.
Added
Section 2.2.2 on page 10, Section 7.1 on page 29, Section 9.2 on page 50,
and Section 11.3 on page 61.
Removed PCB layouts in Chapter 11 on page 54.
March 2013 1.1 Added chip variant nRF51822-QFAB. Added 32 MHz crystal oscillator
feature. Updated feature list on front page. Moved subsection
‘Calculating current when the DC/DC converter is enabled’ from chapter
8 to the nRF51 Reference Manual.
Updated
Chapter 1 on page 6, Section 2.2 on page 8, Section 3.2 on page 14,
Section 3.5 on page 18, Section 3.5.1 on page 19, Section 4.2 on page 23,
Chapter 5 on page 26, Section 8.1 on page 30, Section 8.1.2 on page 31,
Section 8.1.5 on page 33, Section 8.2 on page 35, Section 8.3 on page 37,
Section 8.5.3 on page 39, Section 8.8 on page 43, Section 8.9 on page 44,
Section 8.10 on page 45, Section 8.14 on page 46, Chapter 10 on page
51, Section 11.2.3 on page 59, Section 11.2.1 on page 55, and Section
11.2.2 on page 57.
Added
Section 3.5.4 on page 21, Section 8.1.3 on page 32, and Section 11.1 on
page 54.
November 2012 1.0 Changed from PPS to PS.
Updated feature list on front page.
Updated Table 13 on page 28, Table 14 on page 29, Table 16 on page 31,
Table 18 on page 33, Table 19 on page 33, Table 20 on page 34,
Table 23 on page 36, Table 24 on page 37, Table 26 on page 38,
Table 27 on page 38, Table 28 on page 39, Table 32 on page 42,
Table 33 on page 43, Table 35 on page 44, Table 38 on page 45,
Table 39 on page 46, Table 42 on page 47, Table 45 on page 48,
Table 46 on page 48, Table 61 on page 53,
and Figure 15 on page 59.
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nRF51822 Product Specification v1.3
Table of Contents
1 Introduction............................................................................................................................................... 6
2 Product overview...................................................................................................................................... 7
2.1 Block diagram .................................................................................................................................................. 7
2.2 Pin assignments and functions ................................................................................................................... 8
3 System blocks.......................................................................................................................................... 13
3.1 CPU ......................................................................................................................................................................13
3.2 Memory..............................................................................................................................................................14
3.3 Power management (POWER)...................................................................................................................16
3.4 Programmable Peripheral Interconnect (PPI) ......................................................................................17
3.5 Clock management (CLOCK)......................................................................................................................18
3.6 GPIO.....................................................................................................................................................................21
3.7 Debugger support .........................................................................................................................................21
4 Peripheral blocks .................................................................................................................................... 22
4.1 2.4 GHz radio (RADIO)...................................................................................................................................22
4.2 Timer/counters (TIMER)................................................................................................................................23
4.3 Real Time Counter (RTC) ..............................................................................................................................23
4.4 AES-ECB encryption (ECB) ...........................................................................................................................23
4.5 Random Number Generator (RNG)..........................................................................................................23
4.6 Watchdog Timer (WDT)................................................................................................................................23
4.7 Temperature sensor ......................................................................................................................................24
4.8 SPI (SPI)...............................................................................................................................................................24
4.9 Two-wire interface (TWI)..............................................................................................................................24
4.10 UART (UART).....................................................................................................................................................24
4.11 Quadrature Decoder (QDEC)......................................................................................................................25
4.12 Analog to Digital Converter (ADC)...........................................................................................................25
4.13 GPIO Task Event blocks (GPIOTE)..............................................................................................................25
5 Instance table .......................................................................................................................................... 26
6 Absolute maximum ratings .................................................................................................................. 28
7 Operating conditions............................................................................................................................. 29
7.1 nRF51822 WLCSP light sensitivity ............................................................................................................29
8 Electrical specifications ......................................................................................................................... 30
8.1 Clock sources ...................................................................................................................................................30
8.2 Power management......................................................................................................................................35
8.3 Block resource requirements .....................................................................................................................37
8.4 CPU ......................................................................................................................................................................37
8.5 Radio transceiver ............................................................................................................................................38
8.6 RSSI specifications..........................................................................................................................................42
8.7 UART specifications .......................................................................................................................................42
8.8 SPI specifications ............................................................................................................................................43
8.9 TWI specifications...........................................................................................................................................44
8.10 GPIOTE specifications ...................................................................................................................................45
8.11 Analog-to-Digital Converter (ADC) specifications..............................................................................45
8.12 Timer specifications.......................................................................................................................................46
8.13 RTC.......................................................................................................................................................................46
8.14 Temperature sensor ......................................................................................................................................46
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nRF51822 Product Specification v1.3
8.15 Random Number Generator (RNG) specifications..............................................................................47
8.16 ECB/CCM/AAR specifications .....................................................................................................................47
8.17 Watch Dog Timer specifications ...............................................................................................................47
8.18 Quadrature Decoder specifications.........................................................................................................48
8.19 NVMC specifications......................................................................................................................................48
8.20 General purpose I/O (GPIO) specification..............................................................................................48
9 Mechanical specifications ..................................................................................................................... 49
9.1 QFN48 package...............................................................................................................................................49
9.2 WLCSP package...............................................................................................................................................50
10 Ordering information ............................................................................................................................ 51
10.1 Package marking ............................................................................................................................................51
10.2 Order code ........................................................................................................................................................51
10.3 Abbreviations...................................................................................................................................................51
10.4 Code ranges and values...............................................................................................................................52
10.5 Product options ..............................................................................................................................................53
11 Reference circuitry.................................................................................................................................. 54
11.1 PCB guidelines.................................................................................................................................................54
11.2 QFN48 package...............................................................................................................................................55
11.3 WLCSP package...............................................................................................................................................61
12 Glossary .................................................................................................................................................... 67
