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Silicon Labs Shrinks Wireless SoCs to Extend BLE to Miniature Devices

73 points by WaitWaitWha 2y ago

zokier 2y ago
It's bit silly to say that they shrink SoC when the new chip is exactly the same package as their previous generation from few years ago.
gleenn 2y ago
I don't immediately see a picture of the actual chip to get a reference size bybitself, that that chip inside the tooth is pretty wild. I wonder how you would even begin to power electronics within such a space. Or perhaps this is more of a marketing level of graphics.
- metaphor 2y ago
  From the article: > The BG29 chips will be available in 5 mm × 5 mm QFN and 2.6 mm × 2.8 mm WLCSP form factors That "wireless oral health monitor" example is a concept from Lura Health[1] that integrates a marginally smaller BG27 (2.3mm x 2.6mm WLCSP)[2]. [1] https://lurahealth.com https://lurahealth.com [2] https://www.silabs.com/applications/case-studies/small-bluetooth-chip-powers-luras-oral-health-monitor https://www.silabs.com/applications/case-studies/small-bluet...
  - opello 2y ago
    The second link isn't exactly forthcoming on the battery technology used, but at least says: > and its power consumption is low enough that the device can last from six months to a year on a battery of the equivalent size The average "width" of the first mandibular molar from this article[1] is 5.1-5.2mm. It sure would be interesting to see a CAD model of the design inside the module on the band. The graphics from the posted article vs. the first link above are also a bit different, making it even harder to infer much I think. [1] https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5502574/ https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5502574/
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
nimish 2y ago
The antenna is the limiting factor IIRC, the smallest module available is this thing: https://www.fdk.com/cyber-e/electronic_components/module/ble.html https://www.fdk.com/cyber-e/electronic_components/module/ble... which has the antenna as a slot in the package itself.
- bboygravity 2y ago
  Limiting factor for what application? The battery/power supply alone is going to be at least an order of magnitude larger in volume.
  - Joel_Mckay 2y ago
    "The battery/power supply alone is going to be at least an order of magnitude larger in volume." Indeed, people do use rechargeable lithium batteries like the 50mAh CR322 (22mm by 3mm) or smaller CR311, but these would only be able to handle a 11mA EFR32BG29 output load for a few hours at most... Yet in a mostly dormant power save mode YMMV =3
    - inhumantsar 2y ago
      if we're talking about a device that only needs centimeters worth of range and spends most of its time in deep sleep, those 50mA could last quite a while.
      - bsder 2y ago
        And would last a whole lot longer if the BLE manufacturers would pull their heads out of their asses and give us a chip with RTC wakeup current that doesn't suck. Microcrystal can make these things to run at <50nA. https://www.microcrystal.com/en/products/real-time-clock-rtc-modules https://www.microcrystal.com/en/products/real-time-clock-rtc... All the BLE manufacturers are 1uA plus. It's infuriating.
        pajko 2y ago
jtrueb 2y ago
Is this not just a worse version of the nRF52 and nRF54 lineup? Larger size, fewer hardware peripherals, lower radio sensitivity. What is the new thing for this chip?
- bobmcnamara 2y ago
  Compared to nRF52840(same ram/flash/packaging), this is nearly a millimeter smaller x/y, 3dB better sensitivity, 2.5x faster ADC sample rate(but who knows what that means with a +8dBm radio firing near it), and hopefully not botched readout protection. No USB though, big deal for some. I'm not familiar enough with the nRF54 series, but it's good to have a few competitors in this space.
  - jtrueb 2y ago
    The nRF54L15 looks better in most aspects. I mention the nRF52840 as it is a veteran in the space with a rich ecosystem at 1mm larger.
human_llm 2y ago
Nordic Semiconductors has BLE SOCs in even smaller packages. E.g. the nRF54L15 is available in a 2.4 x 2.2 mm package.

73 points by WaitWaitWha 2y ago

It's bit silly to say that they shrink SoC when the new chip is exactly the same package as their previous generation from few years ago.

gleenn 2y ago

I don't immediately see a picture of the actual chip to get a reference size bybitself, that that chip inside the tooth is pretty wild. I wonder how you would even begin to power electronics within such a space. Or perhaps this is more of a marketing level of graphics.

metaphor 2y ago
From the article: > The BG29 chips will be available in 5 mm × 5 mm QFN and 2.6 mm × 2.8 mm WLCSP form factors That "wireless oral health monitor" example is a concept from Lura Health[1] that integrates a marginally smaller BG27 (2.3mm x 2.6mm WLCSP)[2]. [1] https://lurahealth.com https://lurahealth.com [2] https://www.silabs.com/applications/case-studies/small-bluetooth-chip-powers-luras-oral-health-monitor https://www.silabs.com/applications/case-studies/small-bluet...
- opello 2y ago
  The second link isn't exactly forthcoming on the battery technology used, but at least says: > and its power consumption is low enough that the device can last from six months to a year on a battery of the equivalent size The average "width" of the first mandibular molar from this article[1] is 5.1-5.2mm. It sure would be interesting to see a CAD model of the design inside the module on the band. The graphics from the posted article vs. the first link above are also a bit different, making it even harder to infer much I think. [1] https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5502574/ https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5502574/

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]

nimish 2y ago

The antenna is the limiting factor IIRC, the smallest module available is this thing: https://www.fdk.com/cyber-e/electronic_components/module/ble.html https://www.fdk.com/cyber-e/electronic_components/module/ble... which has the antenna as a slot in the package itself.

bboygravity 2y ago
Limiting factor for what application? The battery/power supply alone is going to be at least an order of magnitude larger in volume.
- Joel_Mckay 2y ago
  "The battery/power supply alone is going to be at least an order of magnitude larger in volume." Indeed, people do use rechargeable lithium batteries like the 50mAh CR322 (22mm by 3mm) or smaller CR311, but these would only be able to handle a 11mA EFR32BG29 output load for a few hours at most... Yet in a mostly dormant power save mode YMMV =3
  - inhumantsar 2y ago
    if we're talking about a device that only needs centimeters worth of range and spends most of its time in deep sleep, those 50mA could last quite a while.
    - bsder 2y ago
      And would last a whole lot longer if the BLE manufacturers would pull their heads out of their asses and give us a chip with RTC wakeup current that doesn't suck. Microcrystal can make these things to run at <50nA. https://www.microcrystal.com/en/products/real-time-clock-rtc-modules https://www.microcrystal.com/en/products/real-time-clock-rtc... All the BLE manufacturers are 1uA plus. It's infuriating.
      - pajko 2y ago

jtrueb 2y ago

Is this not just a worse version of the nRF52 and nRF54 lineup? Larger size, fewer hardware peripherals, lower radio sensitivity. What is the new thing for this chip?

bobmcnamara 2y ago
Compared to nRF52840(same ram/flash/packaging), this is nearly a millimeter smaller x/y, 3dB better sensitivity, 2.5x faster ADC sample rate(but who knows what that means with a +8dBm radio firing near it), and hopefully not botched readout protection. No USB though, big deal for some. I'm not familiar enough with the nRF54 series, but it's good to have a few competitors in this space.
- jtrueb 2y ago
  The nRF54L15 looks better in most aspects. I mention the nRF52840 as it is a veteran in the space with a rich ecosystem at 1mm larger.

human_llm 2y ago

Nordic Semiconductors has BLE SOCs in even smaller packages. E.g. the nRF54L15 is available in a 2.4 x 2.2 mm package.