Thermal design

Good thermal design on the application board is essential for maximizing the performance and battery life of nRF9160. Poor thermal design causes nRF9160's built-in thermal protection to more easily trigger, preventing nRF9160 from transmitting and receiving LTE and Global Positioning System (GPS) data.

The maximum power consumption and operating temperature of nRF9160 and the JEDEC standardized thermal coefficients are shown in the following table.

Table 1. Thermal characteristics of nRF9160
Parameter	Value
Power consumption (maximum heat power dissipation)	1480 mW
Maximum operating temperature	85°C
RthetaJA (Module-to-Ambient)	23°C/W
RThetaJB (Module-to-Board)	6°C/W
RThetaJC (Module-to-Case)	1°C/W
Maximum allowed Tc (Module case temperature)	85°C
Maximum Allowed Tj (Worst case of module components)	85°C

Note: Thermal resistance (JA, JB, and JC) is measured in still air conditions with the module mounted on 72 mm x 46 mm x 1.2mm 6-layer Printed Circuit Board (PCB) with high copper coverage on all metal layers.