AN933.2: EFR32 Series 2 Minimal BOM

The purpose of this application note is to illustrate bill-of-material

(BOM) and cost-optimized solutions for 2.4 GHz applications us-

ing the EFR32xG22 and EFR32xG24 Wireless Gecko SoCs.

Silicon Labs reference radio board designs typically use an extensive number of com-

ponents and multiple layers for RF and VDD filtering to achieve the best possible RF

performance at even the highest output power levels. So, the number of PCB layers

can be decreased and many of these elements can be eliminated from the design while

still maintaining an acceptable RF performance, especially at the lower power levels.

This document shows an absolute cost-optimized solution for the EFR32 Series 2 devi-

ces targeting high-volume and cost-sensitive applications, mainly applicable for Blue-

tooth Smart (i.e., BLE) and Zigbee applications at the 2.4 GHz frequency band, where

the maximum allowed fundamental RF power is generally lower and the design is typi-

cally space-constrained, such as for wearable applications. This application note in-

cludes measured data with several different and simplified VDD filtering approaches at

the 2.4 GHz frequency region. The RF front-end matching principles are described in

more detail in the application note, AN930.2: EFR32 Series 2 2.4GHz Matching Guide.

The RF performance also strongly depends on the PCB layout as well as the design of

the matching networks. For optimal performance, Silicon Labs also recommends using

the PCB layout design guidelines described in the application note, AN928.2: EFR32

Series 2 Layout Design Guide.

KEY POINTS

• BOM, cost, and PCB space-optimized

reference design for 2.4 GHz applications

• Eliminates a number of components for

RF and V

domains while maintaining

acceptable RF performance

• Measurement results for RX sensitivity, TX

performance, and harmonics are provided