Pins marked as n.c. in datasheet nRF5340-QKAA. What to do with them on the PCB?

RE: Pins marked as n.c. in datasheet nRF5340-QKAA. What to do with them on the PCB?

Priyanka — Wed, 11 Feb 2026 08:51:21 GMT

Hi,

Yes, the N.C pins are not connected anywhere to anything:

https://docs.nordicsemi.com/bundle/ps_nrf5340/page/chapters/pin.html#ariaid-title2

Some pins, as you can see in the above documentation, are mentioned "Connect to VSS" and they are connected to ground.

They are generally used as mentioned, in the refence designs, acts as pass-through from VSS_PAD to the decoupling capacitors shorting the current path.

-Priyanka

RE: Pins marked as n.c. in datasheet nRF5340-QKAA. What to do with them on the PCB?

Konrad S — Tue, 10 Feb 2026 09:09:55 GMT

Hi Priyanka I am currently having an problem with lack of free pins to use in my design. I do not want to change the PCB technology to access internal pins so i am thinking about making a link from internal pins through N.C. pins which are not ment to be connected to VSS.

I need to be super sure. Are N.C. pins which in datasheet does NOT have a recomended usage (connect to VSS) can be used as bypass? Are we 100% sure those pins are not connected internally to the SoC?

Thanks!

RE: Pins marked as n.c. in datasheet nRF5340-QKAA. What to do with them on the PCB?

Priyanka — Thu, 25 May 2023 05:43:50 GMT

[quote user="larsen"]For nRF5340 I deduce that it is option 2 which applies[/quote]

Yes, that's right.

[quote user="larsen"]but please when updating you documentation: Think in the terms of the user and do not just mark not connected. The user need to know what that implies with respect to the use of the part.[/quote]

I think that's a great suggestion 🙂 Thank you very much.

-Priyanka

RE: Pins marked as n.c. in datasheet nRF5340-QKAA. What to do with them on the PCB?

henning larsen — Wed, 24 May 2023 09:24:53 GMT

but please when updating you documentation: Think in the terms of the user and do not just mark not connected. The user need to know what that implies with respect to the use of the part.

I.e. It can mean:

Do not connect any copper but the solder pad to this pin
No internal connection - You can connect to this pad if you need to pass through with a trace

So N.C. need to be specified. For nRF5340 I deduce that it is option 2 which applies.

And now I will stop.

RE: Pins marked as n.c. in datasheet nRF5340-QKAA. What to do with them on the PCB?

henning larsen — Wed, 24 May 2023 09:12:08 GMT

great - and I see that you _can_ copy paste an image to the dialog without having to do all the tedious pass via file upload - sooo practical.

RE: Pins marked as n.c. in datasheet nRF5340-QKAA. What to do with them on the PCB?

Priyanka — Wed, 24 May 2023 09:04:04 GMT

[quote user="larsen"]. And if you open the associated tab similar to the one you link to for nRF52xx then there is no info. [/quote]

Sorry, I got confused with another case of mine. Yes, it seems like it's not mentioned. Thank you for alerting this. 🙂 I will report it internally.

[quote user="larsen"] It is slightly annoying that you cant link to specific pages. [/quote]

Yes that's true, we have this problem with the Infocenter.

-Priyanka

RE: Pins marked as n.c. in datasheet nRF5340-QKAA. What to do with them on the PCB?

henning larsen — Wed, 24 May 2023 08:50:51 GMT

Hi Priyanka,

Sorry but this is incorrect - I am looking at nRF5340 chip and not nRF52. And if you open the associated tab similar to the one you link to for nRF52xx then there is no info. Samme goes for the pdf datasheet nRF5340 Product Specification v1.3.

ps. It is slightly annoying that you cant link to specific pages. I tried to copy paste an image but this does not work either.

henning

RE: Pins marked as n.c. in datasheet nRF5340-QKAA. What to do with them on the PCB?

Priyanka — Wed, 24 May 2023 08:20:18 GMT

Hi Henning,

It's mentioned under the QSPI pin assignments section:

-Priyanka

RE: Pins marked as n.c. in datasheet nRF5340-QKAA. What to do with them on the PCB?

henning larsen — Wed, 24 May 2023 07:58:28 GMT

thanks for swift reply. Can I ask you to verify if I am correct that this information is not written in the datasheet.

If so, please add it to the updates list - It is not good to have ambiguous information in a datasheet

br henning

RE: Pins marked as n.c. in datasheet nRF5340-QKAA. What to do with them on the PCB?

Priyanka — Wed, 24 May 2023 07:52:38 GMT

Hi,

The N.C means Not Connected. These pins are dummy pins for mechanical stability and not internally connected to the die of the SoC. Some of them are connected to VSS because of the layout and this helps in grounding and also, as I mentioned earlier, the mechanical stability. So you don't need to connect them. It's okay to leave them "not connected".

Best Regards,

Priyanka