Nordic Semiconductor

Nordic Semiconductor (formerly Nordic VLSI) is a fabless semiconductor company headquartered in Trondheim, Norway, and focused on low-power wireless communications devices.

Overview

The company specializes in ultra-low-power performance wireless system on a chip (SoC) and connectivity devices for the 2.4  GHz ISM band, with power consumption and cost being the main focus areas. Typical end-user applications are consumer electronics; wireless mobile phone accessories ("Appcessories"); wireless gamepad, mouse, and keyboard; intelligent sports equipment; wireless medical; remote control; wireless voice-audio applications (e.g., voice over IP); security; wireless navigation hardware; and toys. With the release of the nRF9160 system in a package (SiP) in late 2018, the company expanded from Bluetooth LE and other short range radio applications into cellular network connected solutions with main focus on cellular IoT by supporting LTE-M and NB-IoT on this device.

Nordic Semiconductor has been ISO 9001 certified by Det Norske Veritas ( DNV) since 1996, and the certificate was upgraded to ISO 9001-2000 in 2001. In 1996, Nordic Semiconductor was listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange's SME list.

History

Nordic Semiconductor was initially founded as Nordic VLSI (NVLSI) in Trondheim, Norway in 1983. The company was formed by four post-graduates from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. Initially the company focused on the design of mixed-signal application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) within the Nordic region. In 1996, the firm went public on the Norwegian stock exchange, where it still trades .

In 1998, NVLSI released their first wireless standard products in the 433 MHz ISM band. In 2003 NVLSI was renamed Nordic Semiconductor, often known as Nordic Semi, to reflect the company's full focus on ultra low-power wireless devices. The same year saw the release of Nordic Semiconductor's first wireless devices at 2.4 GHz. Since 2003, Nordic Semiconductor has maintained a clear focus on wireless products for the 2.4 GHz band and has seen its devices used in a wide range of branded consumer electronic products. Nordic Semiconductor maintains an especially dominant position in the wireless sports and fitness and wireless desktop peripheral markets.

Nordic Semiconductor have products that support 2 main wireless technologies: short-range low-power wireless through Bluetooth LE, Thread, Zigbee, and proprietary 2.4 GHz protocols; and low power cellular IoT through LTE-M and NB-IoT.

2012 saw the release of third generation of ultra low power wireless products. This family of products is named the nRF51 series and they incorporate the ARM Cortex-M series microcontrollers at their core.
In 2015 Nordic Semiconductor introduced their newest 2.4 GHz ISM band SoC series, the nRF52 which incorporate the ARM Cortex-M4 as their core.
In January 2018, Nordic Semiconductor introduced and started sampling to selected lead customers their first LTE SoC, the nRF91 series. In November 2019, Nordic Semiconductor introduced and started sampling to selected lead customers their new flagship SoC containing dual-core ARM Cortex-M33 processors and a multi-protocol radio stack (NFC/BLE/BLE mesh/Zigbee/Thread/others), the nRF53 series.

Products

Nordic Semiconductor designs and produces SoC and connectivity solutions primarily for the ISM bands at 2.4 GHz and 868/915 MHz bands. Current products include SoCs incorporating the ARM Cortex-M0, ARM Cortex-M4 and ARM Cortex-M33 microcontroller cores.

Some of their most popular products are the nRF24L01+ and the nRF24LE1, both using the lightweight and proprietary "Enhanced ShockBurst" protocol stack in 2.4 GHz ISM band. The nRF24L01+ is a simple transceiver with some logic to implement the protocol stack and is connected to a microcontroller via an SPI bus, while the nRF24LE1 can be seen as an nRF24L01 and a microcontroller in the same chip.'

nRF51 Series SoCs

The nRF51 Series SoCs was the first series of short range wireless SoCs from Nordic Semiconductor, it was superseded by the nRF52 Series SoCs.

nRF52 Series SoCs

The nRF52 Series SoCs was the second series of short range wireless SoCs from Nordic Semiconductor, building on their experience from developing the nRF51 Series. The nRF52 series, especially the nRF52840 and nRF52833, is very successful and exists in millions of popular consumer devices in the world today, among them wireless mice, keyboards and audio devices. The popularity of Nordic's nRF52 series allows for Nordic Semiconductor to maintain a 40% worldwide market share in the Bluetooth LE segment.

nRF91 Series SiP

The nRF9160 SiP expanded Nordic Semiconductor's lineup from mainly focusing on Bluetooth LE and other short range wireless protocol SoCs into the realm of connected devices using the cellular network for internet connectivity.

nRF53 Series SoC

The nRF5340 SoC is the world's first dual-core ARM Cortex-M33 SoC (128MHz + 64MHz), released in 2020. This is Nordic's new generation of wireless SoCs with a separate processor core to handle connectivity, thus freeing up resources for handling more demanding applications on the main processor's core without compromising on the connectivity.

The nRF52833 SoC features a 64 MHz ARM Cortex-M4. This SoC supports an extended temperature range of -40˚C to 105˚C. The SoC has a 1:4 RAM to flash storage ratio (128 KB : 512 KB). Being a wireless-focused chip, the nRF52833 is equipped with an output power of +8 dBm.

Clones

Some clones of Nordic Semiconductor's chips can be found on the market, such as the SI24R1 and the BK2421.Beken BK2421 Datasheet They often demonstrate inferior receiver sensitivity and a higher power consumption, although they may add additional features such as a higher maximal transmission power.

Locations

Nordic Semiconductor is headquartered in Trondheim, Norway.
R&D offices are located in Portland (US), Krakow and Woclaw (Poland), Oulu, Espoo, Tampere and Turku (Finland), Hyderabad (India), Bristol and Hertfordshire (UK), Stockholm and Lund (Sweden), and in Oslo and Trondheim (Norway).
Technical support or sales offices are located in Oslo (Norway), San Diego (US), Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Hong Kong (China), Taipei (Taiwan), Manila (the Philippines), Yokohama (Japan), Seoul (South Korea), Düsseldorf (Germany), Eindhoven (the Netherlands) and London (UK).

References

External links

*
*
*

{{Authority control

Companies based in Trondheim
Semiconductor companies of Norway
Fabless semiconductor companies
Companies established in 1983
Companies listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange
Norwegian brands
Norwegian companies established in 1983