Is it possible to purchase BCM20737 alone instead the whole kit?

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Anonymous
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Hi all,

We want to layout a new board using the BCM20737 chip to complete part of our functions. However, we find it extremely difficult to purchase this chip.

I have contacted all the distributors of Broadcom (Mouser, Avnet, Macnica Americans). None of them have this chip in stock. Instead, they have BCM20737S and BCM20736S (48-pin, integrated with crystal etc.).

The BCM20737S (48-pin) has different footprint from BCM20737 (32-pin), also and we cannot find a detailed datasheet of BCM20737S.


So here are the weird things:

1. For the BCM20737 chip, we can find its datasheet from this community, but we cannot purchase it anywhere.

2. For the BCM20737S chip, we can purchase it easily, but we cannot get its datashee so we don't know how to layout.

I also contacted sales office of Broadcom, no one could help. The sale's manager from Mousers try to help me solve this issue. After one and a half hour trying, she gives up finally.

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1 Solution
MichaelF_56
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Could you clarify that your intentions are to do a 20737 chip on board (32-pin), or SoC design as opposed to one that leverages the more integrated 20737S SIP module (48-pin)?

Datasheets for both:

BCM20737 SOC Data Sheet

BCM20737S Bluetooth Low Energy SiP Module Technical Reference

Do you realize that unless your annual volumes are 100K or more, the added cost of doing your own regulatory, adding additional components and doing an antenna design from scratch quickly negates the cost savings of the SoC?

This is why these are harder to find in stock at our distributors. The demand is lower based on the tradeoffs described.

You will want to engage with a full service distributor like Avnet or Macnica for SoC pricing.  They can help you with SIP module pricing as well, along with explain many of the tradeoffs of going with an SoC design compared to SIP module.

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14 Replies
MichaelF_56
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250 sign-ins 25 comments on blog 10 comments on blog

Could you clarify that your intentions are to do a 20737 chip on board (32-pin), or SoC design as opposed to one that leverages the more integrated 20737S SIP module (48-pin)?

Datasheets for both:

BCM20737 SOC Data Sheet

BCM20737S Bluetooth Low Energy SiP Module Technical Reference

Do you realize that unless your annual volumes are 100K or more, the added cost of doing your own regulatory, adding additional components and doing an antenna design from scratch quickly negates the cost savings of the SoC?

This is why these are harder to find in stock at our distributors. The demand is lower based on the tradeoffs described.

You will want to engage with a full service distributor like Avnet or Macnica for SoC pricing.  They can help you with SIP module pricing as well, along with explain many of the tradeoffs of going with an SoC design compared to SIP module.

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Anonymous
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Thank you.

We can use either BCM20737S or BCM20373, we just need the datasheet to help us do the layout. (I didn't find the BCM20737S's datasheet. Thanks for providing the link)

I understand the reason now why it is easy to purchase SIP module instead of SoC chip alone.

Thanks!

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Perfect.

Note that we also have alot of design files available on the site as well that you will find helpful.

If you go here: WICED Smart

Then look at the bottom box on the left called "Reference Designs", you will see that several of those designs leverage the SIP module.

Anonymous
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Hi,mwf_mmfae

I notice that the BCM20737S Bluetooth Low Energy SiP Module Technical Reference is a Preliminary one.

Do you have a full released datasheet available now?

Thanks

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This is the only version we provide: BCM20732S Bluetooth Low Energy SiP Module Technical Reference

Ignore the preliminary reference.

Anonymous
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Thanks for your quick reply!

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Hi Nolac

If you are located in the US or Canada, please contact me directly. We put together the Mpression board here: Odyssey MAX 10 FPGA & BLE Sensor Kit - Mpression with the BCM20737S.

We do have the chip in stock at Macnica!

We can provide support to get you up and running fast with your design on the HW and SW side.

Excellent videos are available here:

Bluetooth SMART Concepts IoT 1 vWorkshop - YouTube

Broadcom's WICED SMART SDK IoT 2 vWorkshop - YouTube

Video Link : 1229

It is covering all you need to get started on BLE with Broadcom.

jeremynigh

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Anonymous
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Hi,

This technical reference seems to be BCM20732S, do you have BCM20737S version?

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Anonymous
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We have purchased BCM20737S

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That's the device you want to use for new designs as it supports the newer A1 firmware and enhancements to the SDK.

The 20732S supports SDK 1.1 and A0 firmware, both of which are subsets of A1/SDK 2.x

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Anonymous
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Am I correct thinking that 20737S does not support JTAG debugging?

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Anonymous
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You can debug using PUART or J-Link probe, here is the document.

WICED Smart - Debugging Support Using a J-Link Probe Application Note

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The device does not support single step debugging.

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