NXP Semiconductors
UM12018
FRDM-MCXN947 Board User Manual
3.6.3 Using MCU-Link with third-party IDEs
The MCU-Link debug probe can be used with IAR Embedded Workbench and Arm Keil MDK, and may also
work with other third-party tools. Refer to the documentation for these products, covering the use of generic
CMSIS-DAP probes or J-Link probes (depending on the firmware image you are using.)
3.7 MCU-Link USB connector
The FRDM-MCXN947 board has a universal serial bus (USB) 2.0 Type-C connector (J17). This USB connector
is used to create MCU-Link high-speed USB connection with the host computer. The MCU-Link receives power
when the USB connector (J17) is plugged into a USB host.
3.8 Connecting to a target through a USB-to-UART bridge
The MCU-Link supports the VCOM serial port feature, which adds a serial COM port on the host computer, and
connects it to the target MCU by using MCU-Link as a USB-to-UART bridge.
On the FRDM-MCXN947 board, MCU-Link LPC55S69 is connected to the P1_8 and P1_9 pins of the target
MCU through the R173 and R172 resistors, respectively.
Note: The P1_8 and P1_9 pins are also the default UART ISP pins to allow for ISP connection through the
MCU-Link VCOM.
To use MCU-Link as a USB-to-UART bridge, ensure that the J18 jumper is open and connect the J17 connector
on the board to the USB port of the host computer.
When you boot the FRDM-MCXN947 board, a VCOM port with the name MCU-Link Vcom Port (COMxx) is
enumerated on the host computer, where “xx” may vary from one computer to another. Each MCU-Link based
board has a unique VCOM number associated with it.
3.9 Connecting to a target through a USB-to-SPI or USB-to-I2C bridge
MCU-Link supports the USB serial input/output (USBSIO) port feature, which adds a USB serial I/O port on the
host computer, and connects it to the target MCU by using MCU-Link as a USB-to-SPI bridge or USB-to-I2C
bridge. Support for the USBSIO feature can be enabled on the host computer using the libusbsio library, which
is a free host library from NXP for Windows/Linux/MacOS systems. For more details on the libusbsio library, see
https://www.nxp.com/libusbsio.
In the FRDM-MCXN947 board, MCU-Link connects to the P1_[3:0] pins of the target MCU using the FC1 SPI
interface connection, through zero-ohm resistors (DNP by default). Populating these resistors enables the
communication between MCU-Link and the target MCU through the USB-to-SPI bridge.
The SPI interface connections for this functionality are shared with the SPI connections on the
Arduino compatible connectors and Mikroe connector connections. To prevent contention with these
connectors, zero-ohm resistors are used to isolate the connections from the MCU-Link circuit by
default.
A USB-to-SPI bridge can be used to emulate the host system. To use MCU-Link as a USB-to-SPI bridge, the
board must be connected to the host computer through a USB cable from its J17 connector. Also, ensure the
following resistor configuration on the board to enable the USBSIO bridge feature for SPI:
• Resistors R136, R137, R138, and R139 are populated
• Resistor R121 is DNP (default setting)
• Resistor R156 is unpopulated
UM12018 All information provided in this document is subject to legal disclaimers. © 2024 NXP B.V. All rights reserved.
User manual Rev. 1 — 20 January 2024
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