nRF5340 QSPI flash

[Jason]

Hi:

SW: NCS v2.5.0

HW: nRF5340 + flash gd25q256e 

To reduce the power consumption of the QSPI flash, we have two approaches.

1. cut off the QSPI flash's power when the product is in sleep mode (the power can be turned on/off by an LDO)

2. always keep the power of the QSPI flash, and put the flash into deep power down mode when the product is in sleep mode.

unfortunately, both of these two approaches have problems.

for approach 1, when turning on the power again, and initiating the QSPI and XIP again, the XIP doesn't work.

e.g 

 printk("#2Address of %x value %x\n", 0x10000008, *(uint32_t *)0x10000008);

 printk("#2Address of %x value %x\n", 0x10000040, *(uint32_t *)0x10000040);

 the values are wrong. 

for approach 2，

put the QSPI flash into deep power down mode by calling pm_device_action_run(flash_dev, PM_DEVICE_ACTION_SUSPEND);

this works, we can see the power consumption is reduced.

wake up the flash from deep power down mode by calling pm_device_action_run(flash_dev, PM_DEVICE_ACTION_RESUME);

but this function return -EIO, and it is caused by the nrfx_qspi_init return NRFX_ERROR_TIMEOUT.

if we don't put the flash into deep power-down mode, every thing is OK.

below is the QSPI configuration 

&qspi {
	status = "okay";
	pinctrl-0 = <&qspi_default>;
	pinctrl-1 = <&qspi_sleep>;
	pinctrl-names = "default", "sleep";
	gd25q256: gd25q256e@0 {
		compatible = "nordic,qspi-nor";
		reg = <0>;
		/* GD25Q256 supports only pp(cmd 02H) and pp4o(cmd 32H) */
		writeoc = "pp4o";
		/* GD25Q256 supports all readoc options */
		readoc = "read4io";
		sck-frequency = <8000000>;
		jedec-id = [c8 40 19];
		sfdp-bfp = [/*read the sfdp-bfp by jesd216 sample(zephyr\samples\drivers\jesd216)*/
			e5 20 f3 ff  ff ff ff 0f  44 eb 08 6b  08 3b 42 bb
			ee ff ff ff  ff ff 00 ff  ff ff 00 ff  0c 20 0f 52
			10 d8 00 ff  d6 39 a5 fe  83 1f 15 51  ec 62 16 33
			7a 75 7a 75  04 bd d5 5c  00 06 64 00  08 50 00 01
		];
		size = <268435456>;
		has-dpd;
		t-enter-dpd = <40000>;
		t-exit-dpd = <45000>;
		enter-4byte-addr = <0x01>;
		address-size-32;
	};
};

Do you have any ideas on this issue?

Thanks!

[AHaug]

Hi,

I recommend you have a look at this modified version of the code relocation sample you're using. In this sample XiP is disabled after use and enabled before use. The same API is called to enable and disable XIP.

The sample loops with a 10 sec sleep. The test write/read/erase code runs from XIP. A thread runs XIP code continuously.

xip_write_run_disable_feat_xip_thread.zip

Kind regards,
Andreas

[Jason]

Hi,

Thanks for your sample code.

I simplified this sample code as below 

#include <zephyr/kernel.h>
#include <zephyr/sys/printk.h>
#include <zephyr/pm/device.h>
#include <stdint.h>
#include <zephyr/kernel.h>
#include <soc.h>
#include <zephyr/pm/device.h>
#include <zephyr/device.h>
#include <zephyr/devicetree.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <nrfx_qspi.h>
#include <zephyr/drivers/flash/nrf_qspi_nor.h>
#include <hal/nrf_gpio.h>
#include <nrfx_gpiote.h>

#define LDO_3V0_EN_PIN (32 + 12)

#define TEST_DEEP_SLEEP_MODE 0
int main(void)
{
	static const struct device *flash_dev;

	printk("Hello World! %s\n", CONFIG_BOARD);
	nrf_gpio_cfg_output(LDO_3V0_EN_PIN);
	nrf_gpio_pin_set(LDO_3V0_EN_PIN); // turn on the flash's VDD
	flash_dev = DEVICE_DT_GET(DT_ALIAS(spi_flash0));

	nrf_qspi_nor_xip_enable(flash_dev, true);
	/*read QSPI data by XIP, no problem, the value is correct*/
	printk("#0Address of %x value %x\n", 0x10000008, *(uint32_t *)0x10000008);
	printk("#1Address of %x value %x\n", 0x10000030, *(uint32_t *)0x10000030);

	int cnt = 0;
#if TEST_DEEP_SLEEP_MODE
	while (1)
	{
		printk("cnt %d\n", cnt++);
		nrf_qspi_nor_xip_enable(flash_dev, false);
		/*put QSPI flash into deep-power-down mode, no problem*/
		ret = pm_device_action_run(flash_dev, PM_DEVICE_ACTION_SUSPEND);
		printf("PM_DEVICE_ACTION_SUSPEND ret = %d\n", ret);

		k_msleep(2000);

		/*wake up QSPI flash from deep-power-down mode, has problem,
		pm_device_action_run return -EIO, and it is caused by the nrfx_qspi_init return NRFX_ERROR_TIMEOUT.*/
		ret = pm_device_action_run(flash_dev, PM_DEVICE_ACTION_RESUME);
		printf("PM_DEVICE_ACTION_RESUME ret = %d\n", ret);
		nrf_qspi_nor_xip_enable(flash_dev, true);

		printk("#0Address of %x value %x\n", 0x10000008, *(uint32_t *)0x10000008);
		printk("#1Address of %x value %x\n", 0x10000030, *(uint32_t *)0x10000030);

		k_msleep(2000);
	}
#else
	while (1)
	{
		printk("cnt %d\n", cnt++);
		nrf_qspi_nor_xip_enable(flash_dev, false);
		k_msleep(10);
		nrf_gpio_pin_clear(LDO_3V0_EN_PIN); // turn off the flash's VDD

		k_msleep(2000);

		nrf_gpio_pin_set(LDO_3V0_EN_PIN); // turn on the flash's VDD
		k_msleep(10);
		nrf_qspi_nor_xip_enable(flash_dev, true);

		/*read QSPI data by XIP, has problem, the value is wrong*/
		printk("#0Address of %x value %x\n", 0x10000008, *(uint32_t *)0x10000008);
		printk("#1Address of %x value %x\n", 0x10000030, *(uint32_t *)0x10000030);

		k_msleep(2000);
	}
#endif
	return 0;
}

this sample code works on the nrf5340-DK but still has the same problem on my custom board, please see the comments on the source code.

the difference is that my custom board uses a different QSPI flash(gd25q256e).

I have two questions.

Jason said:

1. cut off the QSPI flash's power when the product is in sleep mode (the power can be turned on/off by an LDO)

Why the XIP doesn't work correctly after turning on the flash's VDD again?

Jason said:

2. always keep the power of the QSPI flash, and put the flash into deep power down mode when the product is in sleep mode.

Why the the nrfx_qspi_init return NRFX_ERROR_TIMEOUT after the flash in deep-power-down mode?

[roshangeoroy]

Hi,

I'm facing the same issue of getting a timeout error while resuming the external flash from suspended state. Please let me know if any solution was found. Additionally, I will create a private ticket myself sharing more information about my setup. 

[Jason]

unfortunately, no progress so far. if you have any progress, please let me know, Thanks!

[roshangeoroy]

Hi,
I was doing some tests and noticed that this error occurs only when there is a system sleep in between suspend and resume of the peripheral. System going into the idle thread might be causing this. I thinkNRFX QSPI driver  is also talking about this issue.

Regards,

Rosh 

[Jason]

roshangeoroy said:

I thinkNRFX QSPI driver  is also talking about this issue.

I already disabled the CONFIG_PM_DEVICE_RUNTIME.

[roshangeoroy]

Oh okay. Could the function  pm_device_action_run work without that configuration enabled?

[Jason]

Jason said:

update a finding.

Some PCBAs can wake up from deep-power-down mode, some can not, and some have a chance to wake up from deep-power-down mode.

yes, as I mentioned, it seems to be related to the HW, but here's what I don't understand is that the error occurs when initiating the QSPI peripheral of Nordic MCU instead of sending the wakeup CMD to the flash. so we can not say this relate to the HW from this view point.

[roshangeoroy]

Hi Jason, 

Have a look at  RE: QSPI Polling of Status Register by QSPI peripheral at ACTIVATE and WRITE? 

After calling nrf_qspi_task_trigger(NRF_QSPI, NRF_QSPI_TASK_ACTIVATE) the QSPI peripheral will try to read the status register of the external flash. 

In the above mentioned ticket there's a hack provided. Let me know if it works for you. 

Thanks,

Rosh

[Jason]

Hi roshangeoroy，

I do not quite understand how to implement this ‘’hack' , could you provide an example?

roshangeoroy said:

After calling nrf_qspi_task_trigger(NRF_QSPI, NRF_QSPI_TASK_ACTIVATE) the QSPI peripheral will try to read the status register of the external flash

do you mean this is done by the QSPI peripheral automatically? I don't see any code to read the status.