BLE 5.1 Modules, BT40/F/E
Ver
0.90
March
2021
16
Host Board Design for Low Cost or Long Range
On nRF53 series SoCs, Nordic offers various memory options and protocol supports. Fanstel offers various
antenna and power amplifier options. A host board can be designed to accommodate these nRF53 modules.
Our suggestions for host PCB design:
If your main goal is minimum PCB cost,
•
use a 2-sided PCB.
•
Use library component from EV-BT40F Gerber files, can be downloaded from
http://www.fanstel.com/download-document/. It has 16 castellated pins plus 24 LGA pins. BT40F library
component can be used. However, signal routing can be difficult on a 2-sided PCB.
•
Be sure of no metal contact in the area of 21 additional BT40F pins.
•
BT40F can be mounted on a BT840F pad.
If you main goal is maximum wireless range,
•
use a 4 or more layers PCB.
•
Use library component from EV-BT40F Gerber files. They can be downloaded from
http://www.fanstel.com/download-document/. It has 16 castellated pins plus 45 LGA pins.
•
As much ground plane under BT40F, on top side of host PCB as possible. Use EV-BT40F Gerber files
as an example.
•
If your products may need wireless range of 1350 meters or more, allocate physical space for a
15x28x1.9mm module. This larger module size is required to accommodate Nordic nRF21540 power
amplifier.
•
(To be determined)
Don’t use P0.06 (BT840F pin B4), P0.17 (BT840F pin C3), and P0.19 (BT840F pin
D2) on the host board. These pins are used to control SKY66112 power amplifier in BT840X and
BT840XE.
