Esp32-S3 Hardware Design Guidelines en
Esp32-S3 Hardware Design Guidelines en
Introduction
Hardware design guidelines give advice on how to integrate ESP32-S3 into other products.
ESP32-S3 is a series of high-performance Wi-Fi and Bluetooth® 5 (LE) SoCs.
These guidelines will help to ensure optimal performance of your product with respect to tech-
nical accuracy and conformity to Espressif’s standards.
Version 1.2
Espressif Systems
Copyright © 2023
www.espressif.com
Contents
Contents
1 Overview 5
2 Schematic Checklist 6
2.1 Power Supply 7
2.1.1 Digital Power Supply 8
2.1.2 Analog Power Supply 9
2.1.3 RTC Power Supply 10
2.2 Power-up Timing and System Reset 11
2.2.1 Power-up Timing 11
2.2.2 System Reset 11
2.2.3 Power-up and Reset Timing 11
2.3 Flash and SRAM 12
2.3.1 In-Package Flash/PSRAM 12
2.3.2 Pin-to-Pin Mapping Between Chip and In-Package Flash/PSRAM 12
2.3.3 Off-Package Flash/PSRAM 13
2.4 Clock Source 13
2.4.1 External Clock Source (Compulsory) 13
2.4.2 RTC (Optional) 14
2.5 RF 15
2.6 UART 17
2.7 Strapping Pins 17
2.8 GPIO 18
2.9 ADC 21
2.10 USB 21
2.11 SDIO 21
2.12 Touch Sensor 22
3.11.1 Q: The voltage ripple is not large, but the TX performance of RF is rather poor. 35
3.11.2 Q: The voltage ripple is small, but RF TX performance is poor. 35
3.11.3 Q: When ESP32-S3 sends data packages, the power value is much higher or lower than the
target power value, and the EVM is relatively poor. 35
3.11.4 Q: TX performance is not bad, but the RX sensitivity is low. 36
4 Hardware Development 37
4.1 ESP32-S3 Modules 37
4.2 ESP32-S3 Development Boards 37
4.3 Download Guidelines 37
Glossary 40
Revision History 41
List of Tables
1 VDD_SPI Voltage Control 8
2 Description of ESP32-S3 Power-up and Reset Timing Parameters 11
3 Pin-to-Pin Mapping Between Chip and In-Package Flash/PSRAM 12
5 Chip Boot Mode Control 17
6 Description of Timing Parameters for the Strapping Pins 17
7 Pin Overview 19
8 Power-Up Glitches on Pins 20
9 IO Pad Status After Chip Initialization in the USB-OTG Download Mode 21
List of Figures
1 ESP32-S3 Schematic 6
2 ESP32-S3 Schematic for the Off-Package Octal Flash/PSRAM (1.8 V) 7
3 Schematic for the Digital Power Supply Pins 9
4 Schematic for the Analog Power Supply Pins 10
5 ESP32-S3 RTC Power Supply 10
6 ESP32-S3 Power-up and Reset Timing 11
7 Schematic for the Crystal 14
8 Schematic for the External Crystal (RTC) 15
9 Schematic for ESP32-S3’s External Oscillator (RTC) 15
10 Schematic for RF Matching 16
11 RF Tuning Diagram 16
12 Visualization of Timing Parameters for the Strapping Pins 18
13 ESP32-S3 PCB Layout 23
14 Placement of ESP32-S3 Modules on Base Board (Antenna Feed Point on the Right) 24
15 Placement of ESP32-S3 Modules on Base Board (Antenna Feed Point on the Left) 24
16 Keepout Zone for ESP32-S3 Module’s Antenna on the Base Board 25
17 ESP32-S3 Power Traces in a Four-layer PCB Design 26
18 ESP32-S3 Analog Power Traces in a Four-layer PCB Design 27
19 ESP32-S3 Crystal Layout (Connected to the Ground) 28
20 ESP32-S3 Crystal Layout (Not Connected to the Ground)) 28
21 ESP32-S3 RF Layout in a Four-layer PCB Design 29
22 ESP32-S3 PCB Stack up Design 29
23 ESP32-S3 Stub in a Four-layer PCB Design 30
24 ESP32-S3 Quad Flash Layout 30
25 ESP32-S3 Octal Flash Layout 31
26 ESP32-S3 UART0 Layout 31
27 A Typical Touch Sensor Application 32
28 Electrode Pattern Requirements 33
29 Sensor Track Routing Requirements 33
30 Shield Electrode and Protective Sensor 34
1 Overview
Note:
Check the link or the QR code to make sure that you use the latest version of this document:
https://espressif.com/documentation/esp32-s3_hardware_design_guidelines_en.pdf
ESP32-S3 is a highly-integrated, low-power, 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi + Bluetooth® LE (5) System-on-Chip (SoC) solution.
It has the following features:
• Complete Wi-Fi + Bluetooth subsystem integrating radio and baseband, RF switch, RF balun, power
amplifier, low noise amplifier (LNA), etc
• Industry-leading RF performance
ESP32-S3 also integrates advanced calibration circuitry that compensates for radio imperfections, and thus
reduces the cost and time to the market for your product, and eliminates the need for specialized testing
equipment.
The SoC is an ideal choice for a wide variety of application scenarios related to AI and Artificial Intelligence of
Things (AIoT), such as:
• Smart home
• Smart appliances
• Smart speaker
For more information about ESP32-S3 series, please refer to ESP32-S3 Series Datasheet.
Note:
Unless otherwise specified, “ESP32-S3” used in this document refers to ESP32-S3 chips without in-package flash/P-
SRAM.
2 Schematic Checklist
The integrated circuitry of ESP32-S3 requires only about 20 electrical components (resistors, capacitors, and
inductors), one crystal and one SPI flash memory chip. The high integration of ESP32-S3 allows for simple
peripheral circuit design. This chapter details ESP32-S3 schematics.
GND
GND GND
3
Y1
GND
GND XOUT
C1 C4
D
The values of C1 and C4 vary with
XIN
TBD TBD VDD33
the selection of the crystal.
2
The value of R4 varies with the
actual PCB board. R4 could be a R1
resistor or inductor, the initial GND 10K(NC)
value is suggested to be 24 nH. 40MHz(±10ppm)
VDD33 GPIO46
GPIO45
U0RXD
R3 499 U0TXD
TBD
C3 C2 GPIO42
GPIO41
1uF 10nF GPIO40
GPIO39
VDD33 GND GPIO38
R4
GND GND
L1 2.0nH(0.1nH)
C C10
C6 C7 C8 C9 VDD33
57
56
55
54
53
52
51
50
49
48
47
46
45
44
43
0.1uF
10uF 1uF 0.1uF 0.1uF
GND
VDDA
VDDA
MTDI
XTAL_P
XTAL_N
GPIO46
GPIO45
U0RXD
U0TXD
MTMS
VDD3P3_CPU
MTDO
MTCK
GPIO38
GND
GND GND GND GND VDD_SPI
ANT1
1 RF_ANT L2 TBD LNA_IN 1 42 GPIO37
LNA_IN GPIO37
8
2 2 41 GPIO36
3 VDD3P3 GPIO36 40 GPIO35
L3 C11 C12
VDD
PCB_ANT CHIP_PU 4 VDD3P3 GPIO35 39 GPIO34 SPICS0 1 5 SPID
TBD TBD TBD GPIO0 5 CHIP_PU GPIO34 38 GPIO33 /CS DI
GPIO1 6 GPIO0 GPIO33 37 GPIO47 SPICLK 6 2 SPIQ
GPIO2 7 GPIO1 SPICLK_P 36 GPIO48 CLK DO
GPIO3 8 GPIO2 SPICLK_N 35 R16 0 SPID SPIHD 7 3 SPIWP
GND GND GND
GND
GPIO4 9 GPIO3 SPID 34 R15 0 SPIQ /HOLD /WP
C5 GPIO4 SPIQ
GPIO5 10 33 R10 0 SPICLK
TBD GPIO6 11 GPIO5 SPICLK 32 SPICS0 U2 FLASH-3V3
4
GPIO7 12 GPIO6 SPICS0 31 R14 0 SPIWP
GPIO8 13 GPIO7 SPIWP 30 R13 0 SPIHD
B
GPIO9 14 GPIO8 SPIHD 29 GND
GND
VDD3P3_RTC
GPIO9 VDD_SPI
XTAL_32K_N
XTAL_32K_P
VDD_SPI
The values of L3, C5, C11, L2 and C12 C13 C14
VDD_SPI
GPIO10
GPIO11
GPIO12
GPIO13
GPIO14
GPIO17
GPIO18
GPIO19
GPIO20
GPIO21
SPICS1
8
NC: No component.
VDD
U1 ESP32-S3 GND GND SPICS1 1 5 SPID
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
GPIO15
GPIO16
GPIO17
GPIO18
GPIO19
GPIO20
GPIO21
L Disable chip.
4
5 4 3 2 1
Notice:
Figure 1 shows the connection for 3.3 V, quad, off-package SPI flash/PSRAM.
In cases where 1.8 V or 3.3 V, octal, in-package or off-package SPI flash/PSRAM is used, GPIO33 ~ GPIO37 are occupied
and cannot be used for other functions.
In cases where in-package SPI flash/PSRAM is used, VDD_SPI is fixed to 1.8 V or 3.3 V, then GPIO45 will not affect any
more. In other cases, choose whether to populate R1 according to Table 1.
When only in-package flash/PSRAM is used, there is no need to populate the resistor on the SPI traces or to care the SPI
traces.
GND GND
2 Schematic Checklist
3
Y1
GND
GND XOUT
C1 C4 D
TBD
TBD XIN
VDD33 VDD_SPI
1
2
R1 R11
GPIO41 D3 A3 R12
GPIO40 SPI_Q D2 SI(IO0) NC2 B1
GPIO39 SPI_WP C4 SO(IO1) NC3 B5 10K
GND GPIO38 SPI_HD D4 IO2 NC4 C5
SPI_IO4 IO3 WP#
R4
D5
SPI_IO5 E3 IO4 B3 C
C10 SPI_IO6 E2 IO5 VSS1 C1
VDD33 SPI_IO7 E1 IO6 VSS2 E5
57
56
55
54
53
52
51
50
49
48
47
46
45
44
43
VDDA
VDDA
XTAL_P
XTAL_N
GPIO46
GPIO45
U0RXD
U0TXD
MTMS
MTDO
VDD3P3_CPU
MTCK
GPIO38
MTDI
GND
GND
VDD_SPI
42 R5 0 SPI_DQS
_IN GPIO37 41 R6 0 SPI_IO7
3P3 GPIO36 40 R7 0 SPI_IO6 R2
3P3 GPIO35 39 R8 0 SPI_IO5
P_PU GPIO34 38 R9 0 SPI_IO4 10K VDD_SPI
O0 GPIO33 37 GPIO47
O1 SPICLK_P 36 GPIO48 A4 B4
O2 SPICLK_N 35 R16 0 SPI_D C2 RST# VCC1 D1
O3 SPID 34 R15 0 SPI_Q SPI_DQS C3 RSU VCCQ2 E4
O4 SPIQ 33 R10 0 SPI_CLK SPI_CS1 A3 DQS VCCQ3
O5 SPICLK 32 SPI_CS0 SPI_CLK B2 CE# A2
O6 SPICS0 31 R14 0 SPI_WP SPI_D D3 CLK NC1 B1 B
O7 SPIWP 30 R13 0 SPI_HD SPI_Q D2 ADQ0 NC2 A5
O8 SPIHD 29 SPI_WP C4 ADQ1 NC3 B5
VDD3P3_RTC
D4 C5
SPI_IO4 D5 ADQ3 NC5
C14 VDD_SPI SPI_IO5 E3 ADQ4 B3
GPIO10
GPIO11
GPIO12
GPIO13
GPIO14
GPIO17
GPIO18
GPIO19
GPIO20
GPIO21
C13
SPICS1
5
Figure 2: ESP32-S3 Schematic for the Off-Package Octal Flash/PSRAM (1.8 V)
SPI_CS1
GPIO10
GPIO11
GPIO12
GPIO12
GPIO14
GPIO15
GPIO16
GPIO17
GPIO18
GPIO19
GPIO20
GPIO21
GND
Any basic ESP32-S3 circuit design may be broken down into 12 major sections: A
• RF • SDIO
The rest of this document details the specifics of circuit design for each of these sections.
Pin29 VDD_SPI can serve as the power supply output at either 1.8 V or 3.3 V (default). It is recommended to add
extra 0.1 µF and 1 µF decoupling capacitors close to VDD_SPI.
• When VDD_SPI operates at 1.8 V, it is powered by the internal flash voltage regulator on the chip. The
typical current the flash voltage regulator can offer is 40 mA.
• When VDD_SPI operates at 3.3 V, it is driven directly by VDD3P3_RTC through the internal RSP I resistor
with a typical value of 14 Ω. Therefore, there will be some voltage drop from VDD3P3_RTC.
Depending on the value of EFUSE_VDD_SPI_FORCE, the VDD_SPI voltage of ESP32-S3 can be controlled in
two ways.
VDD_SPI can also be the power supply input driven by an external power supply.
Notice:
• For ESP32-S3 chips with in-package flash/PSRAM, VDD_SPI is fixed to 1.8 V or 3.3 V, so it is not required to
configure GPIO45.
• When using VDD_SPI as the power supply output for in-package or off-package 3.3 V flash/PSRAM, considering a
voltage drop due to the RSP I resistor, VDD3P3_RTC is suggested to be 3.0 V or above to meet the flash/PSRAM’s
minimum working voltage requirement.
The schematic for the digital power supply pins is shown in Figure 3.
0
2 Schematic Checklist GPIO41
GPIO40
GPIO39
GND GPIO38
R4
C10
VDD33
57
56
55
54
53
52
51
50
49
48
47
46
45
44
43
0.1uF
GND
MTDO
VDDA
VDDA
XTAL_N
XTAL_P
GPIO46
GPIO45
U0RXD
U0TXD
MTMS
VDD3P3_CPU
MTCK
GPIO38
MTDI
GND
VDD_SPI
A_IN 1 42 GPIO37
LNA_IN GPIO37
8
2 41 GPIO36
3 VDD3P3 GPIO36 40 GPIO35
VDD
HIP_PU 4 VDD3P3 GPIO35 39 GPIO34 SPICS0 1 5 S
PIO0 5 CHIP_PU GPIO34 38 GPIO33 /CS DI
PIO1 6 GPIO0 GPIO33 37 GPIO47 SPICLK 6 2 S
PIO2 7 GPIO1 SPICLK_P 36 GPIO48 CLK DO
PIO3 8 GPIO2 SPICLK_N 35 R16 0 SPID SPIHD 7 3 S
GND
PIO4 9 GPIO3 SPID 34 R15 0 SPIQ /HOLD /WP
PIO5 10 GPIO4 SPIQ 33 R10 0 SPICLK
PIO6 11 GPIO5 SPICLK 32 SPICS0 U2 FLASH-3V3
4
PIO7 12 GPIO6 SPICS0 31 R14 0 SPIWP
PIO8 13 GPIO7 SPIWP 30 R13 0 SPIHD
PIO9 14 GPIO8 SPIHD 29 GND
VDD3P3_RTC
GPIO9 VDD_SPI
XTAL_32K_N
XTAL_32K_P
VDD_SPI
C14 VDD_SPI
GPIO10
GPIO11
GPIO12
GPIO13
GPIO14
GPIO17
GPIO18
GPIO19
GPIO20
GPIO21
C13
SPICS1
8
0.1uF 1uF
VDD
U1 ESP32-S3 SPICS1 1 5 S
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
GPIO26 28
VSS
C15 SIO3 SIO2
GPIO10
GPIO11
GPIO12
GPIO12
GPIO14
GPIO15
GPIO16
GPIO17
GPIO18
GPIO19
GPIO20
GPIO21
SPICS1
4
GND GND
Please be noted that the sudden increase in current draw, when ESP32-S3 is transmitting signals, may cause a
4 power rail collapse. Therefore, it is highly recommended
3 to add a 10 µF capacitor to the power2 pin2 and power
pin3 VDD3P3, which can work in conjunction with the 1 µF capacitor. In addition, a CLC filter circuit needs to be
added near VDD3P3 pins so as to suppress high-frequency harmonics. The recommended rated current of the
inductor is 500 mA or above. Refer to Figure 4 to place the appropriate decoupling capacitors near each analog
power pin.
XI
G
GND
GND XOUT
2
2 Schematic Checklist The value of R4 variesC1with the C4
actual PCB board. R4 could be a
with or inductor,TBD
resistor the initial TBD VDD33
XIN
The values of C1 and C4 vary GND
value is suggested to be 24 nH.
the selection
VDD33
of the crystal. 40MHz(±10ppm)
2
The value of R4 varies with the actual R1
PCB board. The initial value could beC2
TBD
C3 10K(NC
24 nH. GND
1uF 10nF 40MHz(±10ppm)
D33
VDD33 GND
R4
GND GND
TBD
L1 2.0nH(0.1nH) R3
C
C3 C2
C6 C7 C8 C9
57
56
55
54
53
52
51
50
49
48
47
46
45
44
43
1uF 10uF
10nF 1uF 0.1uF 0.1uF
GND
VDDA
VDDA
MTMS
MTDI
XTAL_P
XTAL_N
GPIO46
GPIO45
U0RXD
U0TXD
VDD3P3_CPU
MTDO
MTCK
GPIO38
D33 GND
GND GNDGND
R4
GND GND GND
L1 ANT1 2.0nH(0.1nH)
1 RF_ANT L2 TBD LNA_IN
1
2 2 LNA_IN
C10
GPIO37
C6 C7 C8 C9 3 VDD3P3 GPIO36
57
56
55
54
53
52
51
50
49
48
47
46
45
44
43
L3 C11 C12
PCB_ANT CHIP_PU 4 VDD3P3 0.1uF
GPIO35
10uF 1uF 0.1uF 0.1uF
TBD TBD TBD GPIO0 5 CHIP_PU GPIO34
VDDA
VDDA
U0RXD
U0TXD
GND
MTMS
MTDO
VDD3P3_CPU
MTCK
XTAL_P
XTAL_N
GPIO46
GPIO45
MTDI
GPIO38
GPIO1 6 GPIO0 GPIO33
GPIO2 7 GPIO1 SPICLK_P
GND
GND GND GND GPIO3 8 GPIO2 SPICLK_N
ND GND GND GND
C5 GPIO4 9 GPIO3 SPID
NT1 GPIO5 10 GPIO4 SPIQ
1 RF_ANT L2 TBD LNA_IN 1 11 GPIO5 42 SPICLK
Figure 4:TBD
Schematic for the AnalogGPIO6
LNA_IN Power Supply Pins
GPIO37
2 2 GPIO7 12 GPIO6 41 SPICS0
3 VDD3P3 GPIO8 13 GPIO7GPIO36 40 SPIWP
L3 C11
B C12 VDD3P3 GPIO9 GPIO35
CB_ANT GNDCHIP_PU 4 14 GPIO8 39
SPIHD
VDD3P3_RTC
CHIP_PU GPIO9
GPIO34 VDD_SP
XTAL_32K_N
XTAL_32K_P
TBD TBD TBD GPIO0 5 38
2.1.3 RTC Power Supply
The values of L3, C5,
GPIO1 C11, L2 and
6 GPIO0
C12 GPIO33 37
PCB board.7 GPIO1 SPICLK_P
GPIO10
GPIO11
GPIO12
GPIO13
GPIO14
GPIO17
GPIO18
GPIO19
GPIO20
GPIO21
SPICS1
vary with the actual
GPIO2 36
GND Pin20 VDD3P3_RTC
GND of ESP32-S3
NC: GND series
No component. 8 GPIO2
GPIO3chips supplies power to the RTC part. It is recommendedSPICLK_N
to place a 35 R16
GPIO4 9 GPIO3 SPID 34 R15
C5
0.1 µf decoupling capacitor near thisGPIO5
power pin in 10
the circuit.
GPIO4 SPIQ
U1 33 R10
ESP32-S3
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
TBD GPIO6 11 GPIO5 VDD33 SPICLK 32
Note that this power supply cannot be used
GPIO7 as the GPIO6
single
12 backup power supply. SPICS0 31 R14
GPIO8 13 GPIO7 SPIWP 30 R13
SPICS1 GPIO26
GPIO9 14 GPIO8 SPIHD 29
GND CHIP_PU: C15
GPIO9 VDD_SPI
VDD3P3_RTC
XTAL_32K_N
XTAL_32K_P
H Activate chip;
he values of L3, C5, C11, L2L and C12chip. 0.1uF C13
GPIO10
GPIO11
GPIO12
GPIO13
GPIO14
GPIO15
GPIO16
GPIO17
GPIO18
GPIO19
GPIO20
GPIO21
Disable
ary with the actual PCB board.
GPIO10
GPIO11
GPIO12
GPIO13
GPIO14
GPIO17
GPIO18
GPIO19
GPIO20
GPIO21
SPICS1
This pin could not be float. 0.1uF
GND
C: No component.
A
U1 ESP32-S3 GND G
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
VDD33
SPICS1 GPIO26
C15
0.1uF
GPIO10
GPIO11
GPIO12
GPIO13
GPIO14
GPIO15
GPIO16
GPIO17
GPIO18
GPIO19
GPIO20
GPIO21
5 4 3
GND
Notice:
• When using a single power supply for ESP32-S3, the recommended power supply voltage is 3.3 V and the output
current should be no less than 500 mA.
5 • It is suggested to add another 10 µF capacitor at4 the power entrance. If the power entrance is close to pin2
3 and
pin3, it can share the same 10 µF capacitor with pin2 and pin3.
Notice:
To ensure the correct power-up timing, it is advised to add an RC delay circuit at the CHIP_PU pin. The recommended
setting for the RC delay circuit is usually R = 10 kΩ and C = 1 µF. However, specific parameters should be adjusted based
on the characteristics of the actual power supply and the power-up and reset timing sequence of the chip.
Notice:
CHIP_PU pin must not be left floating.
t0 t1
2.8 V
VDDA,
VDD3P3,
VDD3P3_RTC,
VDD3P3_CPU
VIL_nRST
CHIP_PU
Notice:
In cases where the power supply ramps up slowly (e.g., during battery charging), or the device needs to be frequently
powered on and off, or the power supply is unstable (e.g., in solar photovoltaic systems), adding a single RC circuit might
not meet the requirements for power-up and reset timing, and consequently the chip will not boot correctly. In this case, it
is advised to take other approaches, such as adding an external reset chip or a watchdog timer IC. If VDD_SPI operates
at 3.3 V output mode, the threshold of reset chip or watchdog timer IC is suggested to be around 3.0 V.
Please note that the following pins can connect at most one flash and one PSRAM. That is to say, when there is
only flash in the package, the pin occupied by flash can only connect PSRAM and cannot be used for other
functions; when there is only PSRAM, the pin occupied by PSRAM can only connect flash; when there are both
flash and PSRAM, the pin will be unavailable.
SPID DQ0
SPIQ DQ1
SPIWP DQ2
SPIHD DQ3
GPIO33 DQ4
GPIO34 DQ5
GPIO35 DQ6
GPIO36 DQ7
GPIO37 DQS/DM
The ESP32-S3 schematics respectively for the off-package quad flash/PSRAM and off-package octal
flash/PSRAM are shown in Figure 1 and Figure 2.
Crystal
The circuit for the crystal is shown in Figure 7. Note that the accuracy of the selected crystal should be within
±10 ppm.
Please add a series component (resistor or inductor, see R4 in Figure 7) on the XTAL_P clock trace. Initially, it is
suggested to use an inductor of 24 nH to reduce the impact of high-frequency crystal harmonics on RF
performance, and the value should be adjusted after an overall test.
The initial values of external capacitors C1 and C4 can be determined according to the formula:
C1 × C4
CL = + Cstray
C1 + C4
where the value of CL (load capacitance) can be found in the crystal’s datasheet, and the value of Cstray refers to
the PCB’s stray capacitance. The values of C1 and C4 need to be further adjusted after an overall test as
below:
T
lues of L3, C5, C11, L2 and C12
GND
RF_ANT
2 Schematic Checklist
GND
GND
5
1uF
C7
TBD
C5
TBD TBD
L3
C11
1uF
2. Observe the 2.4-GHz signal with a radio communication analyzer or a spectrum analyzer and demodulate it
C3
GND
GND
GND
0.1uF
C8
to obtain the actual frequency offset.
L2
L1
10nF
TBD
TBD
2.0nH(0.1nH)
C12
C2
GND
GND
GND
0.1uF
C9
• When the center frequency offset is positive, it means that the equivalent load capacitance is small,
GPIO9
GPIO8
GPIO7
GPIO6
GPIO5
GPIO4
GPIO3
GPIO2
GPIO1
GPIO0
CHIP_PU
LNA_IN
and the external load capacitance needs to be increased.
VDD33
• When the center frequency offset is negative, it means the equivalent load capacitance is large, and
the external load capacitance needs to be reduced.
14
13
12
11
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
4
U1
• External load capacitance at the two sides are usually equal, but in special cases, they may have
GPIO9
GPIO8
GPIO7
GPIO6
GPIO5
GPIO4
GPIO3
GPIO2
GPIO1
GPIO0
CHIP_PU
VDD3P3
VDD3P3
LNA_IN
GND
slightly different values.
GND
57
15 56
GPIO10 VDDA
TBD
16 55
C1
GPIO11 VDDA
GND
17 54 R4 TBD
18 GPIO12 XTAL_P 53
19 GPIO13 XTAL_N 52
GPIO14 GPIO46
40MHz(±10ppm)
GND
20 51 1 4
21 VDD3P3_RTC GPIO45 50 XIN GND
22 XTAL_32K_P U0RXD 49
XTAL_32K_N U0TXD
Y1
23 48
24 GPIO17 MTMS 47 GND 2 3
25 GPIO18 MTDI 46 GND XOUT
26 GPIO19 VDD3P3_CPU 45
27 GPIO20 MTDO 44
GPIO21 MTCK
GND
28 43
SPICS1 GPIO38
TBD
C4
ESP32-S3
SPICLK_N
SPICLK_P
VDD_SPI
GPIO33
GPIO34
GPIO35
GPIO36
GPIO37
SPICS0
SPICLK
SPIWP
SPIHD
SPIQ
SPID
3
Figure 7: Schematic for the Crystal
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
VDD33
GND
R13
R14
R10
R15
R16
GND
Notice:
R3
0.1uF
C13
0.1uF
C10
10K(NC)
R1
• Defects in the manufacturing of crystal and oscillators (for example, large frequency deviation of more than ±10
GND
ppm, unstable performance within operating temperature range, etc) may lead to the malfunction of ESP32-S3,
0
0
0
0
0
499 U0TXD
1uF
C14
SPIHD
SPIWP
SPICS0
SPICLK
SPIQ
SPID
GPIO48
GPIO47
GPIO33
GPIO34
GPIO35
GPIO36
GPIO37
GPIO38
GPIO39
GPIO40
GPIO41
GPIO42
U0RXD
GPIO45
GPIO46
VDD33
• It is recommended that the amplitude of the crystal is greater than 500 mV.
• When Wi-Fi or Bluetooth connection fails, after ruling out software problems, you may follow the steps mentioned
SPICS1
SPIHD
SPICLK
SPICS0
above to ensure that the frequency offset meets the requirements by adjusting capacitors at the two sides of the
crystal.
1
2
U2
CS#
/HOLD
CLK
/CS
VDD_SPI
VDD_SPI
8 8
VDD GND VDD
FLASH-3V3
SI/SIO0
ESP32-S3 supports an external 32.768 kHz crystal or an external signal (e.g., an oscillator) to act as the RTC
/WP
DO
sleep clock. The external RTC clock source is used to improve the timing accuracy and thus reduce the average
DI
5
SPID
SPIWP
SPIQ
SPID
Figure 8 shows the schematic for the external 32.768 kHz crystal.
1
D
3P3
3P3
_PU
ND
GN
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
IN
2 Schematic Checklist 15
16 GPIO10 VDD
17 GPIO11 VDD
18 GPIO12 XTAL_
GPIO13 XTAL_
GND
C17 TBD 19
GPIO14 GPIO4
R12
20
VDD3P3_RTC GPIO4
1
GPIO15 21
X1 XTAL_32K_P U0RX
GPIO16 22
32.768kHz XTAL_32K_N U0TX
TBD
23
2
GPIO17 MTM
GND
24
C18 TBD 25 GPIO18 MTD
26 GPIO19 VDD3P3_CP
27 GPIO20 MTDO
Figure 8: Schematic for the External
28 GPIO21(RTC)
Crystal MTC
SPICS1 GPIO3
ESP32-S3R8
ESP32-S3R2
ESP32-S3
SPICLK_N
SPICLK_P
VDD_SPI
GPIO33
GPIO34
GPIO35
GPIO36
GPIO37
SPICS0
SPICLK
SPIWP
SPIHD
Notice:
SPIQ
SPID
3
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
– Load capacitance at both ends should be configured according to the crystal’s specification.
GND
R13
R14
R10
R15
R16
GND
• The parallel resistor R is used for biasing the crystal circuit (5 MΩ < R ⩽ 10 MΩ). In general, you do not need to
0.1uF
C13
populate the resistor.
• If the RTC source is not required, then the pins for the external 32.768 kHz crystal can be used as other GPIOs.
GND
0
0
0
0
0
1uF
C14 VDD_SPI
SPIHD
SPIWP
SPICS0
SPICLK
SPIQ
SPID
GPIO48
GPIO47
GPIO33
GPIO34
GPIO35
GPIO36
GPIO37
Figure 9 shows the schematic of the external signal. 18
19 GPIO13
20 GPIO14
CLK_32K C17 TBD GPIO15 21 VDD3P3_RTC
22 XTAL_32K_P
23 XTAL_32K_N
SPIHD
SPICLK
SPICS0
24 DAC_1
25 DAC_2
Figure 9: Schematic for ESP32-S3’s External Oscillator (RTC)
2
1
U2
The external signal can be input to the XTAL’s P end through a DC blocking capacitor (about 20 pF). The XTAL’s
/HOLD
CLK
/CS
N end can be floating. The signal should meet the following requirements:
VDD_SPI
GND
/WP
DO
DI
2.5 RF
3
The RF circuit of the ESP32-S3 series of chips is mainly composed of three parts, the RF traces on the PCB
SPIWP
SPIQ
SPID
board, the chip matching circuit, the antenna and the antenna matching circuit.
• For the chip matching circuit, it must be placed close to the chip. It is mainly used to adjust the impedance
point and suppress harmonics. The CLC structure is preferred, and a set of LC can be added if space
permits. The CLC matching circuit is shown in Figure 10.
1
• For the antenna and the antenna matching circuit, to ensure the radiation performance, the antenna’s
characteristic impedance must be around 50 Ω. Adding a CLC matching circuit near the antenna is
recommended to adjust the antenna. However, if the available space is limited and the antenna impedance
point can be guaranteed to be 50 Ω by simulation, then there is no need to add a matching circuit near the
antenna.
A
57
56
55
54
53
52
51
50
49
48
47
46
45
10uF 1uF 0.1uF TBD
2 Schematic Checklist
GND
VDDA
VDDA
XTAL_P
XTAL_N
GPIO46
GPIO45
MTDO
U0RXD
U0TXD
MTMS
VDD3P3_CPU
MTDI
GND GND GND GND
ANT1
1 RF_ANT L2 TBD LNA_IN 1
2 2 LNA_IN
3 VDD3P3
L3 C11 C12
PCB_ANT CHIP_PU 4 VDD3P3
TBD TBD TBD GPIO0 5 CHIP_PU
GPIO1 6 GPIO0
GPIO2 7 GPIO1
GND GND GND GPIO3 8 GPIO2
GPIO4 9 GPIO3
C5 GPIO4
GPIO5 10
GPIO6 11 GPIO5
TBD GPIO6
B GPIO7 12
GPIO8 13 GPIO7
GPIO9 14 GPIO8
GND
VDD3P3_RTC
GPIO9
XTAL_32K_N
XTAL_32K_P
The values of C11, L2 and C12
GPIO10
GPIO11
GPIO12
GPIO13
GPIO14
GPIO17
GPIO18
GPIO19
GPIO20
vary with the actual PCB board.
NC: No component.
Figure 10: Schematic for RF Matching
U1
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
VDD33
Figure 11 shows the general process of RF tuning. Please be noted the matching parameters are subject to the
RF tuning of PCB board, which depends greatly on the antenna and PCB layout. For ESP32-S3
C15
series of chips, it
is recommended to set the S11 parameter in the figure below to 35+j0 Ω�and the center frequency is 2442
GPIO10
GPIO11
GPIO12
GPIO12
GPIO14
GPIO15
GPIO16
GPIO17
GPIO18
GPIO19
GPIO20
0.1uF
MHz.
If the RF function is not required, the RF pin can be left floating. GND
A
If the application or production environment is susceptible to electrostatic discharge, it is recommended to
reserve an ESD protection diode near the antenna side.
5 4
Notice:
The matching parameters vary with board, so the ones used in our modules could not be applied directly.
2.6 UART
It is recommended to connect a 499 Ω series resistor to the U0TXD line in order to suppress the 80 MHz
harmonics.
Usually UART0 is used as the serial port for download and log printing, and UART0 pins (U0TXD and U0RXD) are
fixed. For instructions on download over UART0, please refer to Section 4.3.
Other UART interfaces can be used as serial ports for communication, which could be mapped to any available
GPIO by software configurations. For these interfaces, it is also recommended to add a series resistor to the TX
line to suppress harmonics.
When using the AT firmware, please note that the UART GPIO is already configured (refer to AT Firmware
Download). It is recommended to use the default configuration.
All the information about strapping pins is covered in ESP32-S3 Series Datasheet > Section Strapping Pins.
In this document we will mainly cover the strapping pins related to boot mode.
GPIO0 and GPIO46 control the boot mode after the reset is released. See Table 5 Chip Boot Mode
Control.
Regarding the timing requirements for the strapping pins, there are such parameters as setup time and hold time.
For more information, see Table 6 and Figure 12.
tSU tH
VIL_nRST
CHIP_PU
VIH
Strapping pin
Notice:
Please do not add high-value capacitors at GPIO0, otherwise the chip not boot successfully.
2.8 GPIO
The pins of ESP32-S3 series can be configured via IO MUX or GPIO matrix. IO MUX provides the default pin
configurations, whereas the GPIO matrix is used to route signals from peripherals to GPIO pins. For more
information about IO MUX and GPIO matrix, please refer to ESP32-S3 Technical Reference Manual > Chapter IO
MUX and GPIO Matrix.
Some peripheral signals can only be routed to certain GPIO pins, while some can be routed to any available
GPIO pins. For details, please refer to ESP32-S3 Series Datasheet > Section Peripheral Pin Configurations.
• Some pins will have glitches during power-up (refer to Table 8).
• When USB-OTG Download mode is enabled, some pins will have level output. See table 9 for details.
• Pay attention to their default configurations after reset (refer to Table 7). It is recommended to add a pull-up
or pull-down resistor to pins in high-impedance state or enable the pull-up and pull-down during software
initialization to avoid extra power consumption.
• SPICLK_N, SPICLK_P, and GPIO33 ~ GPIO37 works in the same power domain, so if octal 1.8 V
flash/PSRAM is used, SPICLK_P and SPICLK_N also work in the 1.8 V power domain.
• Only GPIOs in the VDD3P3_RTC power domain can be controlled in Deep-sleep mode.
Note:
The content below is excerpted from ESP32-S3 Series Datasheet > Section Pins.
Pin Pin Pin Pin Providing Pin Settings Pin Function Sets
No. Name Type Power At Reset After Reset IO MUX RTC Analog
1 LNA_IN Analog
2 VDD3P3 Power
3 VDD3P3 Power
4 CHIP_PU Analog VDD3P3_RTC
5 GPIO0 IO VDD3P3_RTC IE, WPU IE, WPU IO MUX RTC
6 GPIO1 IO VDD3P3_RTC IE IE IO MUX RTC Analog
7 GPIO2 IO VDD3P3_RTC IE IE IO MUX RTC Analog
8 GPIO3 IO VDD3P3_RTC IE IE IO MUX RTC Analog
9 GPIO4 IO VDD3P3_RTC IO MUX RTC Analog
10 GPIO5 IO VDD3P3_RTC IO MUX RTC Analog
11 GPIO6 IO VDD3P3_RTC IO MUX RTC Analog
12 GPIO7 IO VDD3P3_RTC IO MUX RTC Analog
13 GPIO8 IO VDD3P3_RTC IO MUX RTC Analog
14 GPIO9 IO VDD3P3_RTC IE IO MUX RTC Analog
15 GPIO10 IO VDD3P3_RTC IE IO MUX RTC Analog
16 GPIO11 IO VDD3P3_RTC IE IO MUX RTC Analog
17 GPIO12 IO VDD3P3_RTC IE IO MUX RTC Analog
18 GPIO13 IO VDD3P3_RTC IE IO MUX RTC Analog
19 GPIO14 IO VDD3P3_RTC IE IO MUX RTC Analog
20 VDD3P3_RTC Power
21 XTAL_32K_P IO VDD3P3_RTC IO MUX RTC Analog
22 XTAL_32K_N IO VDD3P3_RTC IO MUX RTC Analog
23 GPIO17 IO VDD3P3_RTC IE IO MUX RTC Analog
24 GPIO18 IO VDD3P3_RTC IE IO MUX RTC Analog
25 GPIO19 IO VDD3P3_RTC IO MUX RTC Analog
26 GPIO20 IO VDD3P3_RTC IO MUX RTC Analog
27 GPIO21 IO VDD3P3_RTC IO MUX RTC
28 SPICS1 IO VDD_SPI IE, WPU IE, WPU IO MUX
29 VDD_SPI Power
30 SPIHD IO VDD_SPI IE, WPU IE, WPU IO MUX
31 SPIWP IO VDD_SPI IE, WPU IE, WPU IO MUX
32 SPICS0 IO VDD_SPI IE, WPU IE, WPU IO MUX
33 SPICLK IO VDD_SPI IE, WPU IE, WPU IO MUX
34 SPIQ IO VDD_SPI IE, WPU IE, WPU IO MUX
35 SPID IO VDD_SPI IE, WPU IE, WPU IO MUX
36 SPICLK_N IO VDD_SPI / VDD3P3_CPU IE IE IO MUX
37 SPICLK_P IO VDD_SPI / VDD3P3_CPU IE IE IO MUX
38 GPIO33 IO VDD_SPI / VDD3P3_CPU IE IO MUX
39 GPIO34 IO VDD_SPI / VDD3P3_CPU IE IO MUX
40 GPIO35 IO VDD_SPI / VDD3P3_CPU IE IO MUX
41 GPIO36 IO VDD_SPI / VDD3P3_CPU IE IO MUX
42 GPIO37 IO VDD_SPI / VDD3P3_CPU IE IO MUX
43 GPIO38 IO VDD3P3_CPU IE IO MUX
44 MTCK IO VDD3P3_CPU IE IO MUX
Cont’d on next page
Column Pin Settings shows predefined settings at reset and after reset with the following abbreviations:
• IE – input enabled
High-level glitch 60
Low-level glitch 60
GPIO19 2
High-level glitch 60
Pull-down glitch 60
GPIO20 2
High-level glitch 60
1
Low-level glitch: the pin is at a low level output status during the time period;
High-level glitch: the pin is at a high level output status during the time period;
Pull-down glitch: the pin is at an internal weak pulled-down status during the time period;
Pull-up glitch: the pin is at an internal weak pulled-up status during the time period.
2
GPIO19 and GPIO20 pins both have two high-level glitches during chip power-up, each
lasting for about 60 µs. The total duration for the glitches and the delay are 3.2 ms and 2
ms respectively for GPIO19 and GPIO20.
2.9 ADC
Please add a 0.1 µF filter capacitor between ESP pins and ground when using the ADC function to improve
accuracy. ADC1 is recommended for use.
2.10 USB
ESP32-S3 has a full-speed USB On-The-Go (OTG) peripheral with integrated transceivers. The USB peripheral is
compliant with the USB 2.0 specification.
ESP32-S3 also integrates a USB Serial/JTAG controller that supports USB 2.0 full-speed device.
GPIO19 and GPIO20 can be used as D- and D + of USB respectively. It is recommended to populate zero-ohm
series resistors between the mentioned pins and the USB connector. Also reserve a footprint for a capacitor to
ground on each trace. Note that both components should be placed close to the ESP32-S3 chip.
ESP32-S3 also supports download functions and log message printing via USB. Please refer to Section 4.3 for
download guidelines.
When USB-OTG Download mode is enabled, the chip initializes the IO pad connected to the external PHY in
ROM when starts up. The status of each IO pad after initialization is as follows.
Table 9: IO Pad Status After Chip Initialization in the USB-OTG Download Mode
If the USB-OTG Download mode is not needed, it is suggested to disable the USB-OTG Download mode by
setting the eFuse bit EFUSE_DIS_USB_OTG_DOWNLOAD_MODE to avoid IO pad state change.
2.11 SDIO
ESP32-S3 only has one SD/MMC Host controller, which cannot be used as a slave device.
The SDIO interface can be configured to any free GPIO by software. Please add pull-up resistors to the SDIO
GPIO pins, and it is recommended to reserve a series resistor on each trace.
The ESP32-S3 touch sensor also has a waterproof design and digital filtering feature. Note that only GPIO14
(TOUCH14) can drive the shielded electrode.
When using the touch function, it is recommended to populate a zero-ohm series resistor at the chip side to
reduce the coupling noise and interference on the line, and to strengthen the ESD protection. The recommended
resistance is from 470 Ω to 2 kΩ, preferably 510 Ω. The specific value depends on the actual test results of the
product.
• Layer 3 (POWER): GND plane should be applied to better isolate the RF and crystal. Route power traces
and a few signal traces on this layer, provided that there is a complete GND plane under the RF and crystal.
• Layer 4 (BOTTOM): Route a few signal traces here. It is not recommended to place any components on
this layer.
• Layer 2 (BOTTOM): Do not place any components on this layer and keep traces to a minimum. Please
make sure there is a complete GND plane for the chip, RF, and crystal.
It is suggested to place the module’s on-board PCB antenna outside the base board, and the feed point of the
antenna closest to the board. In the following example figures, positions with mark ✓are strongly recommended,
while positions without a mark are not recommended.
1 2 3
Feed Point
Base board
5 4
Figure 14: Placement of ESP32-S3 Modules on Base Board (Antenna Feed Point on the Right)
1 2 3
Feed Point
Base board
5 4
Figure 15: Placement of ESP32-S3 Modules on Base Board (Antenna Feed Point on the Left)
If PCB antenna could not be placed outside the board, please ensure a clearance of at least 15 mm around the
antenna area (no copper, routing, or components on it), and place the feed point of the antenna closest to the
board. If there is a base board under the antenna area, it is recommended to cut it off to minimize its impact on
the antenna. Figure 16 shows the suggested clearance for modules whose antenna feed point is on the right.
Unit: mm
: Clearance Area
Min15 Max 2
Max 1
6
Base board
Figure 16: Keepout Zone for ESP32-S3 Module’s Antenna on the Base Board
When designing an end product, attention should be paid to the interference caused by the housing of the
antenna and it is recommended to carry out RF verification.
As a conclusion, please be noted it is necessary to test the throughput and communication signal range of the
whole product to ensure the product’s actual RF performance.
• Four-layer PCB design is preferred. The power traces should be routed on the inner third layer whenever
possible. Vias are required for the power traces to go through the layers and get connected to the pins on
the top layer. There should be at least two vias if the main power traces need to cross layers. The drill
diameter on other power traces should be no smaller than the width of the power traces.
• The 3.3 V power traces, highlighted in yellow, are routed as shown in Figure 17. The width of the main
power traces should be at least 25 mil. The width of the power traces for VDD3P3 pins should be at least
20 mil. The width of other power traces is preferably 10 mil.
• The ESD protection diode is placed next to the power port (circled in red in the top left quarter of Figure 17).
The power trace should have a 10 µF capacitor on its way before entering into the chip, and a 0.1 or 1 µF
capacitor could also be used in conjunction. After that, the power traces are divided into several branches
using a star-shape topology, which reduces the coupling between different power pins. Note that all
decoupling capacitors should be placed close to the corresponding power pin, and ground vias should be
added close to the capacitor’s ground pad to ensure a short return path.
Notice:
In Figure 17, the 10 µF capacitor is shared by the analog power supply VDD3P3 and the power entrance since
the analog power is close to the chip power entrance. If the chip power entrance is not near the VDD3P3 pin, it
is recommended to add a 10 µF capacitor to both the chip power entrance and the analog power VDD3P3, and
also reserve a 1 µF capacitor if space permits.
• As shown in Figure 18, it is recommended to connect the capacitor to ground in the CLC filter circuit near
VDD3P3 pins to the bottom layer through a via, and maintain a keep-out area on other layers, so as to
further restrain harmonic disturbance.
• VDD3P3 analog power supply should be surrounded by ground copper. It is required to add GND isolation
between the VDD3P3 power trace and the surrounding GPIO and RF traces, and place vias whenever
possible.
• The ground pad at the bottom of the chip should be connected to the ground plane through at least nine
ground vias.
• If you need to add a thermal pad EPAD under the chip on the bottom of the module, it is recommended to
employ a square grid on the EPAD, cover the gaps with ink, and place ground vias in the gaps, as shown in
Figure 17. This can avoid chip displacement caused by tin leakage and bubbles when soldering the
module EPAD to the substrate.
3.4 Crystal
Figure 19 and Figure 20 show the reference design of the crystal. The crystal can be either connected to ground
or not connected to ground in the top layer. If there is sufficient ground in the top layer, it is recommended not to
connect the crystal to ground. This helps to reduce the value of parasitic capacitance and suppress temperature
conduction, which can otherwise affect the frequency offset. In addition, the following should be noted:
• Ensure a complete GND plane for the RF, crystal, and chip.
• The crystal should be placed far from the clock pin to avoid the interference on the chip. The gap should
be at least 2.0 mm. It is good practice to add high-density ground vias stitching around the clock trace for
better isolation.
• There should be no vias for the clock input and output traces, which means the traces cannot cross layers.
• Components in series to the crystal trace should be placed close to the chip side.
• The external matching capacitors should be placed on the two sides of the crystal, not connected directly
to the series components, and at the end of the clock trace, to make sure the ground pad of the capacitor
is close to that of the crystal.
• Do not route high-frequency digital signal traces under the crystal. It is best not to route any signal trace
under the crystal. The vias on the power traces on both sides of the crystal clock trace should be placed as
far away from the clock trace as possible, and the two sides of the clock trace should be surrounded by
grounding copper.
• As the crystal is a sensitive component, do not place any magnetic components nearby that may cause
interference, for example large inductance component, and ensure that there is a clean large-area ground
plane around the crystal.
3.5 RF
The RF trace is routed as shown highlighted in pink in Figure 21.
• The RF trace should have 50 Ω characteristic impedance. The reference plane is the second layer. A
π-type matching circuit should be added on the RF trace and placed close to the chip, in a zigzag.
• For designing the RF trace at 50 Ω impedance, you could refer to the PCB stack-up design shown in Figure
22.
Thickness (mm) Impedance (Ohm) Gap (mil) Width (mil) Gap (mil)
-
Finished
Layer
Stack up Material Base copper DK
Thickness
(oz) (mil) µþ²ã
SM 0.4 4 ×躸²ã
L1_Top Finished Copper 1 oz 0.33 0.8 ( Min ) L1_Top
PP 7628 TG150 RC50% 8 4.39 PP
L2_Gnd 1 1.2 L2_Gnd
Core Core Adjustable 4.43 Core
L3_Power 1 1.2 L3_Power
PP 7628 TG150 RC50% 8 4.39 PP
L4_Bottom Finished Copper 1 oz 0.33 0.8 ( Min ) L4_Bottom
SM 0.4 4 ×躸²ã
• The RF trace should have consistent width and not branch out. It should be as short as possible with
dense ground vias around for inteference shielding.
• The RF trace should be routed on the outer layer without vias, i.e., should not cross layers. The RF trace
should be routed at a 135° angle, or with circular arcs if trace bends are required.
• Please add a stub to ground at the ground pad of the first matching capacitor to suppress second
harmonics. It is preferable to keep the stub length 15 mil, and determine the stub width according to the
PCB stack-up, so that the characteristic impedance of the stub is 100 Ω ± 10%. In addition, please
connect the stub via to the third layer, and maintain a keep-out area on the first and second layers. The
trace highlighted in Figure 23 is the stub. Note that a stub is not required for package types above 0201.
• The ground plane on the adjacent layer needs to be complete. Do not route any traces under the RF trace
whenever possible.
• There should be no high-frequency signal traces routed close to the RF trace. The RF antenna should be
placed away from high-frequency components, such as crystals, DDR, high-frequency clocks, etc. In
addition, the USB port, USB-to-serial chip, UART signal lines (including traces, vias, test points, header
pins, etc.) must be as far away from the antenna as possible. The UART signal line should be surrounded
by ground copper and ground vias.
• Route the SPI traces on the inner layer (e.g., the third layer), add ground copper and ground vias around
the clock and data traces of SPI separately whenever possible.
• The 0.1 uF ground capacitor at VDD_SPI power supply can be placed close to the connected
flash/PSRAM power pin.
3.7 UART
• The series resistor on the U0TXD trace needs to be placed close to the ESP32-S3 chip side and away from
the crystal.
• The U0TXD and U0RXD traces on the top layer should be as short as possible.
• The UART trace should be surrounded by ground copper and ground vias stitching.
3.8 USB
• Place the RC circuit on the USB traces close to the ESP32-S3 chip side.
• Please use differential pairs and route them in parallel at equal lengths.
• Make sure there is a complete reference ground plane and surround the USB traces with ground copper.
3.9 SDIO
Because SDIO traces have a high speed, it is necessary to control the parasitic capacitance.
• The trace length for SDIO_CMD and SDIO_DATA0 ∼ SDIO_DATA3 should be 3 mil longer or shorter than
the trace length for SDIO_CLK. If necessary, use serpentine routing.
• It is better to surround the SDIO_CLK trace with ground copper. The path from SDIO GPIOs to the master
SDIO interface should be as short as possible and no more than 2500 mil or even 2000 mil.
Protective cover
Substrate
ESP CHIP
C
Electrode
In order to prevent capacitive coupling and other electrical interference to the sensitivity of the touch sensor
system, the following factors should be taken into account.
Note:
The examples illustrated in Figure 28 are not of actual scale. It is suggested to use a human fingertip as reference.
• The trace should be as short as possible and no longer than 300 mm.
• The trace width (W) can not be larger than 0.18 mm (7 mil).
• The traces should be isolated well and routed away from that of the antenna.
Shied electrode
Note the following guidelines to better implement the waterproof and proximity sensing design:
• Employ a grid on the top layer with a trace width of 7 mil and a grid width of 45 mil (25% fill). The filled grid
is connected to the driver shield signal.
• Employ a grid on the bottom layer with a trace width of 7 mil and a grid width of 70 mil (17% fill). The filled
grid is connected to the driver shield signal.
• The protective sensor should be in a rectangle shape with curved edges and surround all other sensors.
• The recommended gap between the protective sensor and shield sensor is 1 mm.
• The sensing distance of the proximity sensor is directly proportional to the area of the proximity sensor.
However, increasing the sensing area will introduce more noise. Actual testing is needed for optimized
performance.
• It is recommended that the shape of the proximity sensor is a closed loop. The recommended width is 1.5
mm.
Note:
For more details on the hardware design of ESP32-S3 touch sensor, please refer to ESP32-S3 Touch Sensor Application Note.
3.11.1 Q: The voltage ripple is not large, but the TX performance of RF is rather poor.
Analysis:
The voltage ripple has a strong impact on the RF TX performance. It should be noted that the ripple must be
tested when ESP32-S3 is in the normal working mode. The ripple increases when the power gets high in a
different mode.
Generally, the peak-to-peak value of the ripple should be <80 mV when ESP32-S3 sends MCS7@11n packets,
and <120 mV when ESP32-S3 sends 11m@11b packets.
Solution:
Add a 10 µF filter capacitor to the branch of the power trace (the branch powering the chip’s analog power pin).
The 10 µF capacitor should be as close to the analog power pin as possible for small and stable voltage
ripples.
The RF TX performance can be affected not only by voltage ripples, but also by the crystal itself. Poor quality and
big frequency offsets of the crystal decrease the RF TX performance. The crystal clock may be corrupted by
other interfering signals, such as high-speed output or input signals. In addition, high-frequency signal traces,
such as the SDIO traces and UART traces under the crystal, could also result in the malfunction of the crystal.
Besides, sensitive components or radiating components, such as inductors and antennas, may also decrease
the RF performance.
Solution:
This problem is caused by improper layout and can be solved by re-layout. Please see Section 3.4 for
details.
3.11.3 Q: When ESP32-S3 sends data packages, the power value is much higher or
lower than the target power value, and the EVM is relatively poor.
Analysis:
The disparity between the tested value and the target value may be due to signal reflection caused by the
impedance mismatch on the transmission line connecting the RF pin and the antenna. Besides, the impedance
mismatch will affect the working state of the internal PA, making the PA prematurely access the saturated region
in an abnormal way. The EVM becomes poor as the signal distortion happens.
Solution:
Match the antenna’s impedance with the π-type circuit on the RF trace, so that impedance of the antenna as
seen from the RF pin matches closely with that of the chip. This reduces reflections to the minimum.
Good TX performance indicates proper RF impedance matching. Poor RX sensitivity may result from external
coupling to the antenna. For instance, the crystal signal harmonics could couple to the antenna. If the TX and RX
traces of UART cross over with RF trace, they will affect the RX performance, as well. If there are many
high-frequency interference sources on the board, signal integrity should be considered.
Solution:
Keep the antenna away from crystals. Do not route high-frequency signal traces close to the RF trace. Please
see Section 3.5 for details.
4 Hardware Development
To review module reference designs please check Documentation section of Espressif website.
1. Before the download, make sure to set the chip or module to Download Boot mode, i.e., strapping pin
GPIO0 (pulled up by default) is pulled low and pin GPIO46 (pulled low by default) is left floating or pulled low.
If the chip has no in-package flash or PSRAM, configure pin GPIO45 appropriately according to Table 1.
2. Power up the chip or module and check whether it has entered UART Download mode via UART0 serial
port. If the log shows ”waiting for download”, the chip or module has entered Download Boot mode.
3. Download your firmware into flash via UART using Flash Download Tool.
4. After firmware has been downloaded, pull IO0 high or leave it floating to make sure that the chip or module
enters SPI Boot mode.
5. Power up the module again. The chip will read and execute the new firmware during initialization.
1. Perform the download from step 3 if there is working program firmware in the flash. Otherwise, make sure
to set the chip or module to Download Boot mode, i.e., strapping pin GPIO0 (pulled up by default) is pulled
low and pin GPIO46 (pulled low by default) is left floating or pulled low. If the chip has no in-package flash
or PSRAM, configure pin GPIO45 appropriately according to Table 1.
2. Power up the chip or module and check whether it has entered UART Download mode via USB serial port.
If the log shows ”waiting for download”, the chip or module has entered Download Boot mode.
3. Download your firmware into flash via USB using Flash Download Tool.
4. After firmware has been downloaded, pull IO0 high or leave it floating to make sure that the chip or module
enters SPI Boot mode.
5. Power up the module again. The chip will read and execute the new firmware during initialization.
Notice:
• It is advised to download the firmware only after the ”waiting for download” log shows via serial ports.
• Serial tools cannot be used simultaneously with the Flash Download Tool on one com port.
• The USB auto-download will be disabled if the following conditions occur in the application, where it will be neces-
sary to set the chip to Download Boot mode first by configuring the strapping pin.
– USB PHY is disabled by the application;
– USB is secondary developed for other USB functions, e.g., USB host, USB standard device;
– USB GPIOs are configured to other peripherals, such as UART and LEDC.
• It is recommended that the user retains control of the strapping pins to avoid the USB download function not being
available in case of the above scenario.
Developer Zone
• ESP-IDF Programming Guide for ESP32-S3 – Extensive documentation for the ESP-IDF development framework.
• ESP-IDF and other development frameworks on GitHub.
https://github.com/espressif
• ESP32 BBS Forum – Engineer-to-Engineer (E2E) Community for Espressif products where you can post questions,
share knowledge, explore ideas, and help solve problems with fellow engineers.
https://esp32.com/
• The ESP Journal – Best Practices, Articles, and Notes from Espressif folks.
https://blog.espressif.com/
• See the tabs SDKs and Demos, Apps, Tools, AT Firmware.
https://espressif.com/en/support/download/sdks-demos
Products
• ESP32-S3 Series SoCs – Browse through all ESP32-S3 SoCs.
https://espressif.com/en/products/socs?id=ESP32-S3
• ESP32-S3 Series Modules – Browse through all ESP32-S3-based modules.
https://espressif.com/en/products/modules?id=ESP32-S3
• ESP32-S3 Series DevKits – Browse through all ESP32-S3-based devkits.
https://espressif.com/en/products/devkits?id=ESP32-S3
• ESP Product Selector – Find an Espressif hardware product suitable for your needs by comparing or applying filters.
https://products.espressif.com/#/product-selector?language=en
Contact Us
• See the tabs Sales Questions, Technical Enquiries, Circuit Schematic & PCB Design Review, Get Samples
(Online stores), Become Our Supplier, Comments & Suggestions.
https://espressif.com/en/contact-us/sales-questions
Glossary
CLC Capacitor-Inductor-Capacitor
DDR Double-Data Rate
ESD Electrostatic Discharge
LC Inductor-Capacitor
PA Power Amplifier
RC Resistor-Capacitor
RTC Real-Time Clock
SiP System-in-Package
Zero-ohm resistor A zero-ohm resistor is a placeholder on the circuit so that another higher ohm
resistor can replace it, depending on design cases.
Revision History