UICC interface

nRF9160 supports only the Universal Integrated Circuit Card (UICC) Class C interface with 1.8 V nominal voltage as described in ETSI TS 102 221. The electrical specifications for all UICC signals that should be verified in product design and prototyping phase are defined in ETSI TS 102 221, chapter Electrical specifications of the UICC . ETSI documents can be downloaded from https://www.etsi.org.

Table 1. UICC interface performance tests
Test item ETSI test ID Temp/ Voltage Expected result Note
Supply voltage VSIM 5.3.1 TYP/TYP 1.75–1.85 V ETSI specification minimum 1.62 V
Reset signal 5.3.2 Voh > 1.5 V

Vol < 0,3 V

tR/tF < 400 μs
Rise and fall time may be impacted by EMI/ESD protection
Clock signal 5.3.3 Voh > 1.5 V

Vol < 0,3 V

tR/tF < 50 ns
Rise and fall time may be impacted by EMI/ESD protection
I/O signal 5.3.4 Voh > 1.5 V

Vol < 0,3 V

tR/tF < 50 ns
Rise and fall time may be impacted by EMI/ESD protection

Basic UICC verification can be done with an oscilloscope. If a more advanced test setup is needed, for example Comprion's IT³ Prove! can be used.

If a device has a user-accessible slot for a UICC card, ESD sensitivity should be verified against type approval limits. The nRF9160 internal ESD protection is intended for a 1.5 kV Human Body Model (HBM) level. An external ESD/EMI filter is recommended between the UICC card slot and the nRF9160 System in Package (SiP). For an example case, see nRF9160 DK Hardware files. For more information, see UICC in nWP037 - nRF9160 Hardware Design Guidelines.