NXP Semiconductors i.MX 8M Mini LPDDR4 EVK User manual

i.MX 8M Mini LPDDR4 EVKB Board Hardware
User's Guide
NXP Semiconductors Document identifier: IMX8MMEVKBHUG
User's Guide Rev. 0, February 18, 2021

Contents
Chapter 1 Introduction........................................................................................... 3
1.1 Board overview..........................................................................................................................3
1.2 Board contents.......................................................................................................................... 4
Chapter 2 Specifications........................................................................................ 5
2.1 Processor.................................................................................................................................. 7
2.2 Boot mode and Boot device configurations...............................................................................7
2.3 Power tree............................................................................................................................... 11
2.4 LPDDR4 DRAM memory.........................................................................................................12
2.5 eMMC memory (U4)................................................................................................................ 12
2.6 QSPI Nor Flash (U5)............................................................................................................... 13
2.7 SD card slot (J701)..................................................................................................................13
2.8 MIPI-CSI and MIPI-DSI connectors (J802, J801)....................................................................13
2.9 Ethernet connector (J501).......................................................................................................13
2.10 USB connector (J301, J302)................................................................................................. 13
2.11 Wi-Fi/Bluetooth (U6)..............................................................................................................13
2.12 Audio line output (J401).........................................................................................................13
2.13 Audio card connector (J1001)............................................................................................... 13
2.14 JTAG connector (J902)......................................................................................................... 14
2.15 USB-UART connector (J901)................................................................................................ 14
2.16 M.2 connector (J601).............................................................................................................14
2.17 Expansion connector (J1003)................................................................................................14
2.18 I2C connector (J1004)........................................................................................................... 15
2.19 User interface buttons........................................................................................................... 16
2.20 User interface LED indicators................................................................................................16
Chapter 3 PCB information.................................................................................. 18
3.1 EVKB design files....................................................................................................................19
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Chapter 1
Introduction
This document is the hardware user’s guide for the i.MX 8M Mini LPDDR4 Evaluation Kit Board (EVKB) based on the NXP's
i.MX 8M Mini Applications Processor. This board is fully supported by NXP Semiconductors. This manual includes system setup
and configurations, and provides detailed information on the overall design and usage of the EVKB board from a hardware
system perspective.
1.1 Board overview
The LPDDR4 EVKB board is a platform designed to show the most commonly used features of the i.MX 8M Mini Applications
Processor in a small and low cost package. The i.MX 8M Mini LPDDR4 EVKB board is an entry level development board, which
helps developers get familiar with the processor before investing a large amount of resources in more specific designs.
Table 1 lists the features of the i.MX 8M Mini LPDDR4 EVKB board.
Table 1. Board feature
Processor NXP Applications Processor MIMX8MM6DVTLZAA
DRAM memory Micron 2 GB LPDDR4 MT53D512M32D2DS-053 WT:D
Mass storage
SanDisk 32 GB eMMC5.1 SDINBDG4-32G-I1
Micron 32 MB QSPI NOR MT25QU256ABA1EW7-0SIT
MicroSD card connector SD3.0 supported
Power NXP PMIC PCA9450AA + Discrete DCDC/LDO
Camera CSI interface (Mini-SAS connector)
Display interface DSI interface (Mini-SAS connector)
Ethernet 1 GB Ethernet with RJ45 connector
USB X2 USB (2.0) Type-C connector, only Port2 could be used as the Power Input
Wi-Fi/Bluetooth Azurewave AW-CM358SM (NXP 88W8987): Wi-Fi5 (802.11ac) 1x1 Dual-Band (2.4/5 GHz)
and Bluetooth 5.1
Audio connectors
3.5 mm Stereo Line output, 2 Vrms
FPC connector (SAI ports) for Audio Card
Debug connectors
JTAG (10-pin header)
MicroUSB for UART debug, two COM Ports for A53 and M4
M.2 connector x1 M.2 slot (KEY-E type), support PCIE2.0, I2C interfaces
Expansion connector 40-pin dual-row Pin Header for I2S, UART, I2C and GPIO expansion
Table continues on the next page...
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Table 1. Board feature (continued)
I2C connector 8-pin dual-row Pin Header for I2C expansion
Buttons ON/OFF, RESET
LED indicators Power status, UART
PCB 8MMINILPD4-CPU2: 2 inch × 2.7 inch, 8-layer
8MMINI-BB: 4 inch × 4.2 inch, 8-layer
1.2 Board contents
The i.MX 8M Mini LPDDR4 EVKB contains the following items:
• i.MX 8M Mini LPDDR4 EVKB board, assembled by two separate boards, 8MMINILPD4-CPU2 (SOM Board) and 8MMINI-
BB (Base Board)
• IMX-MIPI-HDMI Accessory Card, MIPI-DSI to HDMI adapter board
• USB Type-C 45W Power Delivery Supply, 5V/3A, 9V/3A, 15V/3A, 20V/2.25A supported
• Mini-SAS cable, 8" mini-SAS cable
• USB Type-C Cable, Cable – Assembly, USB 3.0, Type-C Male to Type-A Male
• USB micro-B Cable, Cable – Assembly, USB 2.0, Type-A Male to Micro-B Male
• USB Type-C to A Adapter, Adapter – USB 3.0, Type-C Male to Type-A Female
• Quick Start Guide
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Chapter 2
Specifications
This section provides the detailed information about the electrical design and practical considerations on the LPDDR4 EVKB
board. Figure 1 describes each block in the high-level block diagram of the LPDDR4 EVKB board.
Figure 1. MCIMX8M Mini LPDDR4 EVKB block diagram
Figure 2 shows the overview of the i.MX 8M Mini LPDDR4 EVKB board.
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Figure 2. i.MX 8M Mini LPDDR4 EVKB board overview
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Type-C Port2 is the only power supply port, and it must be always supplied for the system to run.
i.MX 8M Mini EVKB is not a typical use case of the PD device. It is supplied by the PD charger only, but with a power
switch. When the switch is OFF for more than 5.5 seconds after adapting the PD charger, the charger (Source)
re-powers the EVKB (Sink) after the system initiates the PD software. See Section 6.5.7 in the
Universal Serial Bus
Power Delivery Specification Revision 2.0 . There are two ways to avoid re-powering.
• The power switch must always be at the ON side before adapting the PD charger.
• Change the software to disable the PD function, and make it Type-C supply only.
NOTE
2.1 Processor
The i.MX 8M Mini processors represent NXP's latest achievement in the integrated multimedia-focused products offering high
performance processing with a high degree of functional integration, targeted towards the growing market of connected devices.
The i.MX 8M Mini processor features NXP's advanced implementation of the Quad Arm®Cortex®-A53+ Arm Cortex-M4 core,
which operates at speeds up to 1.8 GHz. Each processor provides a 32-bit DDR3L/DDR4/LPDDR4 memory interface and
other interfaces for connecting peripherals, such as MIPI LCD, MIPI Camera, WLAN, Bluetooth™, Ethernet, Digital Mic, GPS,
and multi-sensors.
For more detailed information about the processor, see i.MX 8M Mini Datasheet and Reference Manual.
2.2 Boot mode and Boot device configurations
The i.MX 8M Mini Applications Processor can boot from the boot configuration selected on SW1101 or from the boot configuration
stored on the internal eFUSE. In addition, the i.MX 8M Mini can download a program image from a USB connection when
configured in serial downloader mode. The method used to determine where the processor finds its boot information is from two
dedicated BOOT MODE pins. Table 2 lists the values used in the two methods.
Figure 3. Boot mode selection
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Table 2. Boot mode settings
BOOT_MODE0 BOOT_MODE1 Boot mode
0 0 Boot from fuses
1 0 Serial downloader
0 1 Internal boot (Default)
1 1 Reserved
It is important for the developer to remember that these two pins are tied to the BOOT modules. If the developer wants to boot the
program image from the Internal Boot mode, which means the processor will execute the boot code from the internal boot ROM,
the position of the switch 1 and 2 must be set to OFF (0) ON (1). It is the same principle to choose the Serial Downloader mode
or Boot from Fuse mode to load boot code into the processor.
If Internal Boot mode is selected, the developer can set the switches SW1101 and SW1102 to choose the boot device and related
boot configurations as shown in Table 3 and Figure 4. Figure 5 shows the detailed connection of SW1101 and SW1102.
Table 3. Boot device settings
BOOT device SW1101 SW1102
eMMC/uSDHC3 0110110001 0001010100
MicroSD/uSDHC2 0110110010 0001101000
NAND Flash 0110000000 1000111100
QSPI NOR Flash 0110xxxxxx 00000x0010
Serial download mode 1010xxxxxx xxxxxxxxx0
SW1101 bit 3 and bit 4 are used for compatible design with i.MX 8M Nano, which must be set to 1 and 0 for i.MX
8M Mini.
SW1102 bit 10 is used for Infinit-Loop (Debug use only), which must be set to 0.
NOTE
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Figure 4. Boot device settings
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Figure 5. Boot configuration schematic
On the i.MX 8M Mini LPDDR4 EVKB board, the default boot mode is from the eMMC device. There are another two boot devices,
one QSPI Nor Flash on CPU board, and one MicroSD connector on the Base Board. If you set the boot device to QSPI or MicroSD,
the board will boot from the device accordingly.
NAND boot is not supported on the i.MX 8M Mini LPDDR4 EVKB board but it is supported on the i.MX 8M Mini DDR4 EVK board.
For more information about the boot module, such as the meaning of every bit of the Boot Switch, see i.MX 8M Mini
Reference Manual.
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