nRF5340 v2.0.2

Current measurement

The current drawn by the application nRF5340 System on Chip (SoC) can be monitored on the nRF5340 DK.

Current can be measured using any of the following test instruments:

See the following chapter for important information on the DK measurement setup. If the PPK2 will be used for measuring current, see the Power Profiler Kit II User Guide for additional instructions. Power analyzer measurements are not described in this document.

The application nRF5340 SoC has two possible power supplies: VDD (1.7 V to 3.6 V) and VDDH (2.5 V to 5.5 V). The nRF5340 DK can measure current on both domains. Only the VDD domain current measurement is described here, but the approach is the same with the VDDH supply. See the following table for the corresponding components.

Table 1. Components for current measurement on VDD and VDDH
Component VDD VDDH
Measurement connector P22 P23
Solder bridge SB40 SB41
Series resistor R64 R67

It is not recommended to use a USB connector to power the Development Kit (DK) during current measurements due to potential noise from the USB power supply. However, when measuring current on an application using the USB interface of the nRF5340 SoC, USB must be connected. It is recommended to power the DK from a coin cell battery, external power supply on connector P21 (1.7 V to 3.6 V) or through the Lithium-polymer (Li-Poly) connector J6 or P27 (2.5 V to 5.0 V).

Note: The current measurements are unreliable if a serial terminal is connected to the virtual serial port.

After programming the nRF5340 SoC, disconnect the USB for the interface MCU.

For more information on current measurement, see the tutorial Current measurement guide: Introduction.