How to get Build Type information from FICR?

[Anne van Rossum]

Is it possible to get the Build Type from the Factory information configuration registers (FICR)?

From https://infocenter.nordicsemi.com/topic/comp_matrix_nrf52832/COMP/nrf52832/ic_revision_overview.html there's a nice overview with revisions, for example QFAA and build type Bx0 with x any digit. It's not so hard to retrieve the hardware information from the FICR registers, for example:

Nordic hardware version:	 52832
Board variant:			     AAB0
Board package:			     QFxx - 48-pin QFN

However, in the documentation (in this case the errata documents) often something like QFAA-B00 is specified. I can compose package and variant as QFAA-B0, but where does the second 0 come from?

[Anne van Rossum]

Never mind. From https://devzone.nordicsemi.com/f/nordic-q-a/40153/understanding-nrf52832-package-marking it seems that the last/second 0 does not mean anything. It's not on the packaging, it's not in the hardware itself either. Maybe best to leave out of the documentation as well. :-)

[hmolesworth]

Actually I assumed it means delivered without pre-loaded firmware .. from my notes for the nRF52832:

// 13.1.17 INFO.VARIANT
// Address offset: 0x104
// Part Variant, Hardware version and Production configuration
// Bit number 31 30 29 28 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0
//         Id  A  A  A  A  A  A  A  A  A  A  A  A  A  A  A  A  A  A  A  A  A  A A A A A A A A A A A
// Reset 0x41414142 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0
// Id RW Field Value Id Value Description
// A R VARIANT Part Variant, Hardware version and Production configuration,
// encoded as ASCII
//   AAAA 0x41414141 AAAA
//   AAAB 0x41414142 AAAB
//   AABA 0x41414241 AABA
//   AABB 0x41414242 AABB
//
// We have 41414230 = "AAB0"
//
// Unspecified 0xFFFFFFFF Unspecified
//
// Table 134: Function variant codes
// <VV> Flash (kB) RAM (kB)
// ==== ========== ========
//  AA      512      64
//  AB      256      32
//
// Table 135: Hardware version codes
//     <H>   Description
// ========= ==================================================
// [A .. Z]  Hardware version/revision identifier (incremental)
//
// Table 136: Production configuration codes
//   <P>   Description
//  ====== ===========================================
//  [0..9] Production device identifier (incremental)
//  [A..Z] Engineering device identifier (incremental)
//
// Table 137: Production version codes
//     <F>       Description
// ============  ========================================
// [A..N, P..Z]  Version of preprogrammed firmware
// [0]           Delivered without preprogrammed firmware

[Anne van Rossum]

I guess that's it indeed! And probably(!) when you get the chips with preprogrammed firmware Nordic will provide some FICR register (or through other means) with a production version code different from 0.

It still stands that the errata should still be valid for a particular chip if there is or if there is not firmware preprogrammed. Hence, referring to the production version code in the documentation is confusing.