Layers and Stackup

[MattHorton]

Is there any reason not to use a 2-layer board for the nRF9160? Is a 2-layer or 4-layer board recommended? My current board is just 2-layer and I haven't had any issues with it but I wanted to check to see if anyone else has any input.

[awneil]

Andreas said:

nRF9160 needs a (mostly) solid ground plane

This applies to pretty much any radio device!

Also, it is typical of radio devices that will take very high peak currents - so you also need to ensure that your power connections are good and solid. A power plane is a good way to achieve this.

Hence we end up with 4 layers as a common practice ...

[Andreas]

Hi,

awneil said:

This applies to pretty much any radio device!

This is very true, thanks for correcting.

One thing is to have good enough grounding that the radio and its sensitive modules onboard work as they should, but the ground plane (total over all layers) effectively acts as half the antenna, thus a poor ground plane will also affect wireless range negatively.

 

Best regards,

Andreas

[awneil]

Andreas said:

thanks for correcting

Not really a correction - just emphasising that it's not something specific to nRF9160 or Nordic.

MattHorton the point being that RF design is a specialist area - so, if you need to ask this question, there are probably other issues waiting to bite you.

If this is for a commercial product, you should consider getting an expert involved...

https://devzone.nordicsemi.com/f/nordic-q-a/48284/nrf52832-wlcsp-ciaa-rf-do-not-work/191537#191537