nRF54H20 lifecycle states

The Secure Domain ROM firmware defines the lifecycle states (LCS) for the nRF54H20 SoC. The states are based on the Arm PSA Security Model and allow for programming and safely erasing the device assets.

Note

During the customer sampling, the LCS of the nRF54H20 SoC must be set to Root of Trust (RoT). If the LCS is set to EMPTY, it must be transitioned to RoT. For more information, see nRF54H20 DK bring-up.

However, the forward transition to LCS RoT is permanent. After the transition, it is not possible to transition backward to LCS EMPTY.

The LCS available are the following:

nRF54H20 lifecycle states

LCS	Supply chain stage	Description
EMPTY	Production	RAM empty and Secure Domain Firmware unprogrammed.
Root of Trust	Production	Secure Domain Firmware and certificates provisioned.
DEPLOYED	In-field	Secure Domain debug access port is locked, and unlock is only possible using an authenticated operation.
ANALYSIS	End-of-life	All device assets in MRAM are erased to allow for Nordic RMA procedures.
DISCARDED	End-of-life	All device assets in MRAM are erased.

See the following diagram:

nRF54H20 lifecycle states and transitions available on the final silicon.

This figure shows the states and transitions (both forward and backward ones) that will be available on the final silicon.

Changing the lifecycle state will be useful during development. Test devices in their final configuration would require the device to be in the deployed state, however, updating the Secure Domain firmware and the System Controller firmware will be easier with the device in RoT state.