External execute in place (XIP) configuration on the nRF5340 SoC

This guide describes the external execute in place (XIP) support for the nRF5340 SoC. The nRF5340 SoC is equipped with a Quad Serial Peripheral Interface (QSPI) memory interface, which is capable of exposing QSPI flash as memory for the CPU used to fetch and execute the program code. The QSPI is available for the application core. Therefore, it is possible to relocate a part of the application’s code to an external memory. The external flash memory supports on-the-fly encryption and decryption. NCS supports dividing an application into an internal and external part, along with the MCUboot support.

For more information about QSPI XIP hardware support, the Execute in place page in the nRF5340 Product Specification.

For placing individual source code files into defined memory regions, check the Code relocation nocopy sample in Zephyr.

Enabling configuration options

Application configuration must support an external XIP and image splitting.

Enable the following sysbuild options in a sysbuild.conf file:

Swap using move with network core supportSwap using move without network core support

SB_CONFIG_BOOTLOADER_MCUBOOT=y
SB_CONFIG_PM_EXTERNAL_FLASH_MCUBOOT_SECONDARY=y
SB_CONFIG_NETCORE_APP_UPDATE=y
SB_CONFIG_SECURE_BOOT_NETCORE=y
SB_CONFIG_QSPI_XIP_SPLIT_IMAGE=y

# This will enable the hci_ipc image for the network core, change to the desired image
SB_CONFIG_NETCORE_HCI_IPC=y

Additionally, set the following application options:

• CONFIG_CUSTOM_LINKER_SCRIPT to "<linker_file_for_relocation>"

• CONFIG_FLASH_INIT_PRIORITY to 40 - You must ensure the QSPI device initialization priority, as it makes the external XIP code accessible before it is executed. If any initialization code is expected to be run from the QSPI XIP, then its initialization priority value must be lower than the QSPI device initialization priority.

Setting up QSPI flash

The QSPI flash DTS must be available for the application and the MCUboot. You must correctly set up the QSPI flash chip in the board devicetree file, including the operating mode. The flash chip does not have to run in the QSPI mode for XIP to function, but using other modes will reduce the execution speed of the application.

See the following snippet for an example of the Nordic Thingy:53 configuration that supports DSPI:

    &qspi {
    status = "okay";
    pinctrl-0 = <&qspi_default>;
    pinctrl-1 = <&qspi_sleep>;
    pinctrl-names = "default", "sleep";
    mx25r64: mx25r6435f@0 {
        compatible = "nordic,qspi-nor";
        reg = <0>;
        writeoc = "pp2o";
        readoc = "read2io";
        sck-frequency = <8000000>;
        jedec-id = [c2 28 17];
        sfdp-bfp = [
            e5 20 f1 ff  ff ff ff 03  44 eb 08 6b  08 3b 04 bb
            ee ff ff ff  ff ff 00 ff  ff ff 00 ff  0c 20 0f 52
            10 d8 00 ff  23 72 f5 00  82 ed 04 cc  44 83 68 44
            30 b0 30 b0  f7 c4 d5 5c  00 be 29 ff  f0 d0 ff ff
        ];
        size = <67108864>;
        has-dpd;
        t-enter-dpd = <10000>;
        t-exit-dpd = <35000>;
    };
};

Note

Due to QSPI peripheral product anomaly, the QSPI peripheral must be run with the HFCLK192MCTRL=0 setting. Any other value may cause undefined operation of the device.

Add the following to the DTS overlay for your board:

/ {
    chosen {
            nordic,pm-ext-flash = &mx25r64;
    };
};

Setting up static partition manager

Note

The Partition Manager is a component in the nRF Connect SDK and is responsible for handling the memory partitioning at build time.

This functionality is in the process of being deprecated and replaced by Zephyr’s default devicetree-based memory partitioning. It is recommended that all new designs using Nordic devices, excluding the nRF91 Series devices, are to be built with DTS instead of Partition Manager. Partition Manager will be removed from the nRF Connect SDK by the end of 2026 from the main branch.

For more information on how to configure partitions using DTS and how to migrate your existing configuration to DTS, see the following pages:

• Migrating partition configuration from Partition Manager to devicetree (DTS)

• nRF Connect SDK v3.3.0 Release Notes

You need to complete the setup in order to use a static partitioning in your project. The configuration must have 3 images with 2 slots each:

Static partitioning slots in the nRF5340 SoC.

• The first set of slots is for the internal flash part of the application. These slots should be named mcuboot_primary and mcuboot_secondary.

• The second set of slots is for the network core update. These slots should be named mcuboot_primary_1 and mcuboot_secondary_1.

• The third set of slots is for the QSPI XIP part of the application. These slots should be named mcuboot_primary_2 and mcuboot_secondary_2. There should also be mcuboot_primary_2_pad (which should be the same size as mcuboot_pad) and mcuboot_primary_2_app.

This means a basic dual image configuration for the nRF5340 DK needs to describe an external QSPI XIP code partition as mcuboot_primary_2 partition. Additionally, ensure that:

• The mcuboot_primary_2 address is expressed as the QSPI flash physical address.

• The device field is the QSPI device name.

• The region field is set as external_flash.

See the following snippet for an example of the static configuration for partition manager:

app:
  address: 0x10200
  end_address: 0xe4000
  region: flash_primary
  size: 0xd3e00
external_flash:
  address: 0x120000
  device: MX25R64
  end_address: 0x800000
  region: external_flash
  size: 0x6e0000
mcuboot:
  address: 0x0
  end_address: 0x10000
  region: flash_primary
  size: 0x10000
mcuboot_pad:
  address: 0x10000
  end_address: 0x10200
  region: flash_primary
  size: 0x200
mcuboot_primary:
  address: 0x10000
  end_address: 0xe4000
  orig_span: &id001
  - mcuboot_pad
  - app
  region: flash_primary
  size: 0xd4000
  span: *id001
mcuboot_primary_1:
  address: 0x0
  device: flash_ctrl
  end_address: 0x40000
  region: ram_flash
  size: 0x40000
mcuboot_primary_app:
  address: 0x10200
  end_address: 0xe4000
  orig_span: &id002
  - app
  region: flash_primary
  size: 0xd3e00
  span: *id002
mcuboot_secondary:
  address: 0x0
  device: MX25R64
  end_address: 0xd4000
  region: external_flash
  size: 0xd4000
mcuboot_secondary_1:
  address: 0xd4000
  device: MX25R64
  end_address: 0x114000
  region: external_flash
  size: 0x40000
EMPTY_1:
  address: 0x114000
  device: MX25R64
  end_address: 0x120000
  region: external_flash
  size: 0xc000
mcuboot_primary_2:
  address: 0x120000
  device: MX25R64
  end_address: 0x160000
  orig_span: &id003
  - mcuboot_primary_2_pad
  - mcuboot_primary_2_app
  region: external_flash
  size: 0x40000
  span: *id003
mcuboot_primary_2_pad:
  address: 0x120000
  end_address: 0x120200
  region: external_flash
  size: 0x200
mcuboot_primary_2_app:
  address: 0x120200
  device: MX25R64
  end_address: 0x40000
  region: external_flash
  size: 0x3FE00
mcuboot_secondary_2:
  address: 0x160000
  device: MX25R64
  end_address: 0x1a0000
  region: external_flash
  size: 0x40000
otp:
  address: 0xff8100
  end_address: 0xff83fc
  region: otp
  size: 0x2fc
pcd_sram:
  address: 0x20000000
  end_address: 0x20002000
  region: sram_primary
  size: 0x2000
ram_flash:
  address: 0x40000
  end_address: 0x40000
  region: ram_flash
  size: 0x0
rpmsg_nrf53_sram:
  address: 0x20070000
  end_address: 0x20080000
  placement:
    before:
    - end
  region: sram_primary
  size: 0x10000
settings_storage:
  address: 0xf0000
  end_address: 0x100000
  region: flash_primary
  size: 0x10000
sram_primary:
  address: 0x20002000
  end_address: 0x20070000
  region: sram_primary
  size: 0x6e000

Configuring linker script

To relocate code to the external flash, you need to configure a linker script. The script needs to describe the EXTFLASH flash memory block to which the code will be linked. The ORIGIN of the area can be calculated using following elements:

• The QSPI memory starting with the 0x10000000 internal memory address.

• The offset of an external application part image within the QSPI flash. The external application code partition is mapped by the mcuboot_primary_2 PM partition.

• The image header size of the MCUboot image (0x200).

See the following example of the calculation:

#include <zephyr/linker/sections.h>
#include <zephyr/devicetree.h>
#include <zephyr/linker/linker-defs.h>
#include <zephyr/linker/linker-tool.h>

MEMORY
{
    /* This maps in mcuboot_primary_2 partition defined in pm_static.yaml
    * components for ORIGIN calculation:
    *  - 0x10000000: offset of QSPI external memory in SoC memory mapping.
    *  - 0x120000: mcuboot_primary_2 offset in QSPI external memory
    *  - 0x200: image header size.
    * The size of this region is size of mcuboot_primary_2 reduced by the
    * image header size.
    */
    EXTFLASH (wx) : ORIGIN = 0x10120200, LENGTH = 0x3FE00
}

#include <zephyr/arch/arm/cortex_m/scripts/linker.ld>

Setting up code relocation

Relocating code to QSPI XIP is a part of the project’s CMakeLists.txt file. You can set up the relocation on a file or library basis using the zephyr_code_relocate() function. For example, to relocate a file in the application, use the following configuration:

zephyr_code_relocate(FILES ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/src/bluetooth.c LOCATION EXTFLASH_TEXT NOCOPY)
zephyr_code_relocate(FILES ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/src/bluetooth.c LOCATION RAM_DATA)

where the first line relocates the XIP code (.text) and the second line relocates the data initialization content section (.data).

Similarly, it is possible to relocate certain libraries, for example:

zephyr_code_relocate(LIBRARY mcumgr_mgmt LOCATION EXTFLASH_TEXT NOCOPY)
zephyr_code_relocate(LIBRARY mcumgr_mgmt LOCATION RAM_DATA)

Building the project

Use the standard Building an application procedure. The XIP QSPI sample supports and uses sysbuild by default.

Programming the project

For the nRF5340 DK and other boards equipped with flash working in the QSPI mode, use the standard programming command (west flash). For other cases, set up a configuration file for nRF Util, as described in the following section.

Programming to external flash in SPI/DSPI mode

Programming an application with west triggers the nRF Util runner. The runner uses the default system settings that configure the application in the QSPI mode when programming the external flash. You can change this behavior by using a custom Qspi.json configuration file. This file is used to set up the QSPI flash device and its parameters.

Note

The Qspi.json file is required to work on the Nordic Thingy:53. Its QSPI configuration is different from the default one, for example, it uses the PP command for programming and READ2IO for reading.

To use such a file automatically in a project, update the CMakeLists.txt file by adding the mention of the new file. This way, the file can be applied globally for every board built with a project or applied to specific boards if a project supports multiple board targets, each with different configurations. The following code shows how to set the configuration file used when flashing the Thingy:53 only.

Note

This code must be placed before the find_package line.

cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.20.0)

macro(app_set_runner_args)
  if(CONFIG_BOARD_THINGY53_NRF5340_CPUAPP)
    # Use alternative QSPI configuration file when flashing Thingy53
    board_runner_args(nrfutil "--ext-mem-config-file=${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/qspi_thingy53.json")
  endif()
endmacro()

find_package(Zephyr REQUIRED HINTS $ENV{ZEPHYR_BASE})

project(smp_svr_ext_xip)

Note

The external flash chip must be connected to the dedicated QSPI peripheral port pins of the nRF5340 SoC. It is not possible to program an external flash chip that is connected to different pins using nRF Util.

Troubleshooting

Refer to the following sections for information on how to solve the most common issues.

Module does not appear to start

When using QSPI XIP, a frequent issue is the module not starting or crashing before the application runs. This often results from a mismatch in init priorities between the code on QSPI flash and the QSPI flash device.

To debug this issue, you can use a debugger such as GNU Debugger (GDB) to single-step through the application code until a QSPI address is encountered. The backtrace functionality can then show which part of the code is responsible for the issue, and you can adjust the init priority of that module accordingly.

Given that the QSPI flash init priority defaults to 41 at the POST_KERNEL level, take into account the following points:

• There should be no QSPI flash residing code that has an init priority value that is less than or equal to the POST_KERNEL level 41.

• No interrupt handlers in the QSPI flash should be enabled until the QSPI flash driver has been initialized.

Module does not boot after update

This issue can occur if there is a mismatch between the internal flash code and the QSPI XIP code. Both slots must be running the same build to successfully boot. The application will fail to boot in the following cases:

• If one of the updates is not loaded.

• If a different build is loaded to one of the slots.

• If one of the loaded updates is corrupt and deleted.

Indication of XIP performance

The XIP code execution performance measurement was conducted to evaluate the expected performance in different operating conditions.

The following table lists performance numbers that were measured under different operating conditions.

Note

The numbers in the table refer to current consumed only by the nRF5340 SoC. For complete numbers, you must add the current used by external flash, which varies between manufacturers.

CPU frequency	Memory	Cache	QSPI speed	Mode	Time [ms]	Current @3.0V [mA]	Current @1.8V [mA]	Total energy @3.0V [µJ]	Total energy @1.8V [µJ]
64 MHz	Internal flash	Yes	n/a	n/a	63	3.2	5.1	605	578
64 MHz	External flash	Yes	48 MHz	Quad	68.9	5.63	8.51	1164	1055
64 MHz	External flash	Yes	24 MHz	Quad	73.7	5.58	8.44	1234	1120
128 MHz	Internal flash	Yes	n/a	n/a	31	7.65	12.24	711	683
128 MHz	External flash	Yes	96 MHz	Quad	34.1	8.99	14.1	920	865
128 MHz	External flash	No	96 MHz	Quad	88.5	9.15	12.95	2429	2063
128 MHz	External flash	Yes	48 MHz	Quad	36.4	8.85	13.9	966	911

Additional information

For additional information regarding the QSPI XIP mode of nRF Connect SDK and how to use it, see Using QSPI XIP split image.