nRF5340-PDK to NCS 1.5.x compatibility

[Gabriele]

Hi,
I'm in search of any document listing in a simple readable way the main differences between nRF5340-PDK (preview) and nRF5340-DK.
More specifically, I wish to be reassured that latest versions of nRF Connect SDK (namely 1.5.0, 1.5.1) still work nicely with PDK.
Regards

[Elfving]

Hi Gabrielle!  

I am afraid NCS v1.5+ doesn’t officially support the nrf5340PDK, but you could try it.  

The main difference between the PDK and DK is that the DK uses the final production version of the chip, while the PDK uses an engineering sample. In this case the PDK uses engineering revision A, the DK uses revision D & 1. 

For more info about what that entails in the context of NCS support (officially), see here. 

For more info about the differences between these revisions, see here.

Let me know if there is anything else!

Sincerely,

Håkon E

[Gabriele]

Thanks Håkon,
According to given information this is the compatibility table

Now, the first lot of products we are going to release with FW 1.0 uses nRF5340-QKAA-AB0.
Everithing works fine with NCS 1.4.0.
When we rebuild against NCS 1.5.x, something goes wrong when booting applications embedding MCUBoot as a child-project.
In your opinion, is it silicon related ?
If yes, releasing FW 1.0 built under NCS 1.4.0 will open to mafunctions in the future using newer chip versions ?

[Elfving]

I am not sure where that exact issue lies. 

Though after researching a bit more on the shortcomings of the Engineering A chip, it seems that it also includes missing USB, QDEC, additional serial boxes (SPI/TWI/UART) etc. , and Errata 19 (SPU flash region size) is a serious issue. 

We recommend that you do not release any products with the pdk's engineering A chip.

Using NCS v1.4 with newer chip versions can also potentially open up for malfunctions. It is best to use what is supported.

Sincerely,

Håkon

[Gabriele]

Unfortunately the first lot of 100 has gone with nRF5340-QKAA-AB0 (engineering A).
From now on my problem is where to buy "production" chips.
Indeed, looking at findchips, no way to find any nRF5340-QKAA-D00 out there.
Or might it be corresponding to NRF5340-QKAA-R7 ?

[Elfving]

I would recommend looking through our approved distributors here.

If the chip version isn't specified, it is presumably the production version (although we do not have complete control over our distributors); you can go ahead with the NRF5340-QKAA-R7's. R7, R and T is just referring to the container code, you don't have to worry about that. 

Sincerely,

Håkon