NRF52 pcb design

[oliverhu]

during the pcb design of nrf52, is it compulsory to totally copy your reference pcb layout . since our case need to design a small size device, so i have to modify the pcb design(not change the component ,just rearrange some components) and make it tight.

[Charlie Skilbeck]

I notice that the bottom ground plane extends under the RF section, but I was under the impression that there should not be any ground plane there. The other layer ground planes have cutouts but not the bottom one - can someone from Nordic explain the reasoning?

[Ole Bauck]

You should have a ground plane under the RF section. On nRF52 this can be on any of the layers. It is most common to use the second layer as a ground layer in 4 layer design. Then you can route signals on the third or fourth layer under the RF section.

On nRF51, the story is different. There the ground layer has to be on the bottom layer.

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