Current consumption

Because the system is continually being tuned by the Power management unit (PMU), estimating an application's current consumption can be challenging when measurements cannot be directly performed on the hardware. To facilitate the estimation process, a set of current consumption scenarios are provided to show the typical current drawn from the VDD supply.

Each scenario specifies a set of operations and conditions applying to the given scenario. The following table shows a set of common conditions used in all scenarios, unless otherwise stated in the description of a given scenario. All scenarios are listed in Electrical specification.

Table 1. Current consumption scenarios, common conditions
ConditionValue
Supply3 V on VDD/VDDH (Normal voltage mode)
Temperature25°C
CPUWFI (wait for interrupt)/WFE (wait for event) sleep
PeripheralsAll idle
ClockNot running
RegulatorLDO
RAMIn System ON, full 32 kB powered. In System OFF, full 32 kB retention.
CompilerGCC v7.3.1 20180622 (release) [ARM/embedded-7-branch revision 261907] (GNU Tools for Arm Embedded Processors 7-2018-q3-update).
  • Compiler flags: -O0 -falign-functions=16 -fno-strict-aliasing -mthumb -mcpu=cortex-m4 -mfloat-abi=hard -mfpu=fpv4-sp-d16.
Compiler for CPU Running and CompoundedARMCC v6.13.
  • Compiler flags: -xc -std=gnu99 --target=arm-arm-none-eabi -mcpu=cortex-m4 -mfpu=none -mfloat-abi=soft -c -fno-rtti -funsigned-char -gdwarf-3 -fropi -Ofast -ffunction-sections -Omax
  • Linker flags: --cpu=Cortex-M4 --fpu=SoftVFP --strict -Omax
32 MHz crystal1SMD 2520, 32 MHz, 10 pF +/- 10 ppm
1 Applies only when HFXO is running

Electrical specification

Sleep

SymbolDescriptionMin.Typ.Max.Units
ION_RAMOFF_EVENT

System ON, no RAM retention, wake on any event

0.4µA
ION_RAMON_EVENT

System ON, full 32 kB RAM retention, wake on any event

0.6µA
ION_RAMON_POF

System ON, full 32 kB RAM retention, wake on any event, power-fail comparator enabled

0.8µA
ION_RAMON_GPIOTE

System ON, full 32 kB RAM retention, wake on GPIOTE input (event mode)

2.5µA
ION_RAMON_GPIOTEPORT

System ON, full 32 kB RAM retention, wake on GPIOTE PORT event

0.6µA
ION_RAMOFF_RTC

System ON, no RAM retention, wake on RTC (running from LFRC clock)

1.2µA
ION_RAMON_RTC

System ON, full 32 kB RAM retention, wake on RTC (running from LFRC clock)

1.4µA
IOFF_RAMOFF_RESET

System OFF, no RAM retention, wake on reset

0.3µA
IOFF_RAMON_RESET

System OFF, full 32 kB RAM retention, wake on reset

0.5µA
ION_RAMOFF_EVENT_5V

System ON, no RAM retention, wake on any event, 5 V supply on VDDH, REG0 output = 3.3 V

0.9µA
IOFF_RAMOFF_RESET_5V

System OFF, no RAM retention, wake on reset, 5 V supply on VDDH, REG0 output = 3.3 V

0.7µA
Figure 1. System OFF, no RAM retention, wake on reset (typical values)
Figure 2. System ON, no RAM retention, wake on any event (typical values)

COMP active

SymbolDescriptionMin.Typ.Max.Units
ICOMP,LP

COMP enabled, low power mode

21.4µA
ICOMP,NORM

COMP enabled, normal mode

25.3µA
ICOMP,HS

COMP enabled, high-speed mode

33.0µA

CPU running

SymbolDescriptionMin.Typ.Max.Units
ICPU0

CPU running CoreMark @64 MHz from flash, Clock = HFXO, Regulator = DC/DC

2.1mA
ICPU1

CPU running CoreMark @64 MHz from flash, Clock = HFXO

3.9mA
ICPU2

CPU running CoreMark @64 MHz from RAM, Clock = HFXO, Regulator = DC/DC

2.1mA
ICPU3

CPU running CoreMark @64 MHz from RAM, Clock = HFXO

3.8mA
ICPU4

CPU running CoreMark @64 MHz from flash, Clock = HFINT, Regulator = DC/DC

1.9mA

Radio transmitting/receiving

SymbolDescriptionMin.Typ.Max.Units
IRADIO_TX0

Radio transmitting @ 8 dBm output power, 1 Mbps Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) mode, Clock = HFXO, Regulator = DC/DC

15.0mA
IRADIO_TX1

Radio transmitting @ 0 dBm output power, 1 Mbps BLE mode, Clock = HFXO, Regulator = DC/DC

5.9mA
IRADIO_TX2

Radio transmitting @ -40 dBm output power, 1 Mbps BLE mode, Clock = HFXO, Regulator = DC/DC

3.4mA
IRADIO_TX3

Radio transmitting @ 0 dBm output power, 1 Mbps BLE mode, Clock = HFXO

10.9mA
IRADIO_TX4

Radio transmitting @ -40 dBm output power, 1 Mbps BLE mode, Clock = HFXO

5.2mA
IRADIO_TX5

Radio transmitting @ 0 dBm output power, 250 kbit/s IEE 802.15.4-2006 mode, Clock = HFXO, Regulator = DC/DC

5.9mA
IRADIO_RX0

Radio receiving @ 1 Mbps BLE mode, Clock = HFXO, Regulator = DC/DC

5.8mA
IRADIO_RX1

Radio receiving @ 1 Mbps BLE mode, Clock = HFXO

10.5mA
IRADIO_RX2

Radio receiving @ 250 kbit/s IEE 802.15.4-2006 mode, Clock = HFXO, Regulator = DC/DC

6.0mA
Figure 1. Radio transmitting @ 8 dBm output power, 1 Mbps BLE mode, Clock = HFXO, Regulator = DC/DC (typical values)
Figure 2. Radio transmitting @ 0 dBm output power, 1 Mbps BLE mode, Clock = HFXO, Regulator = DC/DC (typical values)

RNG active

SymbolDescriptionMin.Typ.Max.Units
IRNG0

RNG running

471µA

TEMP active

SymbolDescriptionMin.Typ.Max.Units
ITEMP0

TEMP started

0.62mA

TIMER running

SymbolDescriptionMin.Typ.Max.Units
ITIMER0

One TIMER instance running @ 1 MHz, Clock = HFINT

326µA
ITIMER1

Two TIMER instances running @ 1 MHz, Clock = HFINT

327µA
ITIMER2

One TIMER instance running @ 1 MHz, Clock = HFXO

511µA
ITIMER3

One TIMER instance running @ 16 MHz, Clock = HFINT

426µA
ITIMER4

One TIMER instance running @ 16 MHz, Clock = HFXO

612µA

WDT active

SymbolDescriptionMin.Typ.Max.Units
IWDT,STARTED

WDT started

1.4µA

Compounded

SymbolDescriptionMin.Typ.Max.Units
IS0

CPU running CoreMark from flash, Radio transmitting @ 0 dBm output power, 1 Mbps Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) mode, Clock = HFXO, Regulator = DC/DC

7.3mA
IS1

CPU running CoreMark from flash, Radio receiving @ 1 Mbps BLE mode, Clock = HFXO, Regulator = DC/DC

7.2mA
IS2

CPU running CoreMark from flash, Radio transmitting @ 0 dBm output power, 1 Mbps BLE mode, Clock = HFXO

14.1mA
IS3

CPU running CoreMark from flash, Radio receiving @ 1 Mbps BLE mode, Clock = HFXO

13.7mA