Which nRF MCU is recommended for new end sensor design ?

RE: Which nRF MCU is recommended for new end sensor design ?

0xGael — Tue, 22 Jul 2025 07:06:00 GMT

Thanks Maria Gilje .

This is what I understood about the nRF5340 but I was a little confused about the new generation nRF54L and nRF54H.

RE: Which nRF MCU is recommended for new end sensor design ?

Maria Gilje — Mon, 21 Jul 2025 12:59:08 GMT

Hi Gaël,

These questions are still suited best for your RSM.

Still, here is some more high level information:

I see that I focused on the Zigbee part of your question. Our info page on Thread covers what our different product series can offer for Thread projects: https://www.nordicsemi.com/Products/Wireless/Thread

Generally nRF5340 is suited when wireless connectivity and high application activity is needed. Since it is dual-core, the radio controller can run on the network core while the application core can run a complex application without compromising connectivity.

The nRF54L series and nRF5340 has different use-cases. While the nRF5340 has a dedicated network core, the nRF54L series does not. The nRF54L15 and the nRF5340 are similar in terms of total flash, but the nRF5340 has more RAM.

Best regards,

Maria

RE: Which nRF MCU is recommended for new end sensor design ?

0xGael — Fri, 18 Jul 2025 13:10:15 GMT

Hi Maria,

thanks for your reply.

I understand the RSM will have finer understanding of my need but can you however give me a better view of how Nordic positions its MCUs families between nRF5340 and nRF54L ?

I understand nRF52 are the old generation for Zigbee/Thread.

I understand nRF54L is the new, recommended, generation for Thread End devices and nRF54H is recommended for Thread routers.

But I don't understand how nRF5340 positions compared to nRF54L for Zigbee and Thread ?

Regards,

Gaël

RE: Which nRF MCU is recommended for new end sensor design ?

Maria Gilje — Wed, 16 Jul 2025 14:25:57 GMT

Hi Gaël,

I can provide you with some information, but please contact your Regional Sales Manager before you make a decision on which SoC you go for for your design. You can contact your RSM through email if you know who your RSM is, or through the form found here.

[quote user=""]From the website, I understand the nRF52 chips aren't recommended for new designs and the Zboss stack will not be maintained in the future on these MCU[/quote][quote user=""]I understood the nRF5340 was more recommended for controller nodes on zigbee network but it's too marked as not recommended for new zigbee design ?[/quote]

The Zigbee R22 add-on -- which supports nRF52840, nRF52833, nRF5340 and nRF21540 -- is in maintenance mode, and not recommended when starting new designs.

The Zigbee R23 add-on -- which supports the nRF52840 and the nRF54L series -- will include new features and is recommended when starting new designs.

[quote user=""]I see that nRF54L chips are now the reference for Zigbee and Thread but they seems still in an "early production" state (and software support seems not yet stable).[/quote]

We have production ready support for the nRF54L series in the 1.0.0 release of the Zigbee R23 add-on.

[quote user=""]So my question is which MCU should I use between the nRF5340 and the nRF54L15 (or another variant if reducing RAM and Flash needs) for a future Zigbee/Thread sensor ?[/quote]

I'll let your RSM answer this question, they are much better suited to help you choose the correct SoC.

Best regards,

Maria