.. zephyr:board:: frdm_mcxn236

Overview

FRDM-MCXN236 are compact and scalable development boards for rapid prototyping of MCX N23X MCUs. They offer industry standard headers for easy access to the MCUs I/Os, integrated open-standard serial interfaces, external flash memory and an on-board MCU-Link debugger. MCX N Series are high-performance, low-power microcontrollers with intelligent peripherals and accelerators providing multi-tasking capabilities and performance efficiency.

Hardware

MCX-N236 Arm Cortex-M33 microcontroller running at 150 MHz
1MB dual-bank on chip Flash
352 KB RAM
USB high-speed (Host/Device) with on-chip HS PHY. HS USB Type-C connectors
8x LP Flexcomms each supporting SPI, I2C, UART
2x FlexCAN with FD, 2x I3Cs, 2x SAI
On-board MCU-Link debugger with CMSIS-DAP
Arduino Header, FlexIO/LCD Header, SmartDMA/Camera Header, mikroBUS

For more information about the MCX-N236 SoC and FRDM-MCXN236 board, see:

MCX-N236 SoC Website_
MCX-N236 Datasheet_
MCX-N236 Reference Manual_
FRDM-MCXN236 Website_
FRDM-MCXN236 User Guide_
FRDM-MCXN236 Board User Manual_
FRDM-MCXN236 Schematics_

Supported Features

.. zephyr:board-supported-hw::

Shields for Supported Features

Some features in the table above are tested with Zephyr shields. These shields are tested on this board:

:ref:lcd_par_s035 - supports the Display interface. This board uses the MIPI_DBI interface of the shield, connected to the FlexIO on-chip peripheral.
:ref:dvp_20pin_ov7670 - supports the SmartDMA video interface.

Connections and IOs

The MCX-N236 SoC has 6 gpio controllers and has pinmux registers which can be used to configure the functionality of a pin.

System Clock

The MCX-N236 SoC is configured to use PLL0 running at 150MHz as a source for the system clock.

Serial Port

The FRDM-MCXN236 SoC has 8 FLEXCOMM interfaces for serial communication. Flexcomm 4 is configured as UART for the console.

Programming and Debugging

.. zephyr:board-supported-runners::

Build and flash applications as usual (see :ref:build_an_application and :ref:application_run for more details).

Configuring a Debug Probe

A debug probe is used for both flashing and debugging the board. This board is configured by default to use the MCU-Link CMSIS-DAP Onboard Debug Probe.

Using LinkServer

Linkserver is the default runner for this board, and supports the factory default MCU-Link firmware. Follow the instructions in :ref:mcu-link-cmsis-onboard-debug-probe to reprogram the default MCU-Link firmware. This only needs to be done if the default onboard debug circuit firmware was changed. To put the board in DFU mode to program the firmware, short jumper JP5.

Using J-Link

There are two options. The onboard debug circuit can be updated with Segger J-Link firmware by following the instructions in :ref:mcu-link-jlink-onboard-debug-probe. To be able to program the firmware, you need to put the board in DFU mode by shortening the jumper JP5. The second option is to attach a :ref:jlink-external-debug-probe to the 10-pin SWD connector (J12) of the board. Additionally, the jumper JP7 must be shortened. For both options use the -r jlink option with west to use the jlink runner.

.. code-block:: console

west flash -r jlink

Configuring a Console

Connect a USB cable from your PC to J10, and use the serial terminal of your choice (minicom, putty, etc.) with the following settings:

Speed: 115200
Data: 8 bits
Parity: None
Stop bits: 1

Flashing

Here is an example for the :zephyr:code-sample:hello_world application.

.. zephyr-app-commands:: :zephyr-app: samples/hello_world :board: frdm_mcxn236 :goals: flash

Open a serial terminal, reset the board (press the RESET button), and you should see the following message in the terminal:

.. code-block:: console

*** Booting Zephyr OS build v3.6.0-4478-ge6c3a42f5f52 *** Hello World! frdm_mcxn236/mcxn236

Debugging

Here is an example for the :zephyr:code-sample:hello_world application.

.. zephyr-app-commands:: :zephyr-app: samples/hello_world :board: frdm_mcxn236/mcxn236 :goals: debug

Open a serial terminal, step through the application in your debugger, and you should see the following message in the terminal:

.. code-block:: console

*** Booting Zephyr OS build v3.6.0-4478-ge6c3a42f5f52 *** Hello World! frdm_mcxn236/mcxn236

Troubleshooting

.. include:: ../../common/segger-ecc-systemview.rst.inc

.. include:: ../../common/board-footer.rst.inc

.. _MCX-N236 SoC Website: https://www.nxp.com/products/processors-and-microcontrollers/arm-microcontrollers/general-purpose-mcus/mcx-arm-cortex-m/mcx-n-series-microcontrollers/mcx-n23x-highly-integrated-mcus-with-on-chip-accelerators-intelligent-peripherals-and-advanced-security:MCX-N23X

.. _MCX-N236 Datasheet: https://www.nxp.com/docs/en/data-sheet/MCXN23x.pdf

.. _MCX-N236 Reference Manual: https://www.nxp.com/docs/en/reference-manual/MCXN23xRM.pdf

.. _FRDM-MCXN236 Website: https://www.nxp.com/design/design-center/development-boards-and-designs/general-purpose-mcus/frdm-development-board-for-mcx-n23x-mcus:FRDM-MCXN236

.. _FRDM-MCXN236 User Guide: https://www.nxp.com/document/guide/getting-started-with-frdm-mcxn236:GS-FRDM-MCXN236

.. _FRDM-MCXN236 Board User Manual: https://www.nxp.com/docs/en/user-manual/UM12041.pdf

.. _FRDM-MCXN236 Schematics: https://www.nxp.com/webapp/Download?colCode=SPF-90828