ASIC设计中时钟偏移分析

目前的ASIC设计中,时钟偏移对同步数字电路的影响越来越大,它也越来越受到高速电路设计者的关注,因此如何解决它给电路带来的不利影响成了设计中的重要挑战、文章分析了时钟偏移的产生机理,然后提出了怎样使用CTS在时钟树中插入不同驱动能力的缓冲器,以平衡时钟网络,最后还分析了如何利用有用的时钟偏移来改善电路的时序。     

专用集成电路设计中的时钟偏移分析

目前的专用集成电路设计中，时钟偏移对同步数字电路的影响越来越大，它也越来越受到高速电路设计者的关注。因此如何解决它给电路带来的不利影响成了设计中的重要挑战。本文分析了时钟偏移的产生机理，然后提出了怎样使用CTS在时钟树中插入不同驱动能力的缓冲器，以平衡时钟网络，最后还分析了如何利用有用的时钟偏移来改善电路的时序。     

ASIC后端设计中的时钟偏移以及时钟树综合

目前的ASIC设计中,时钟偏移成为限制系统时钟频率的主要因素,时钟树综合技术通过在时钟网络中插入缓冲器来减小时钟偏移.但是,有时这样做并不能达到系统要求的时钟偏移.以一款SMIC 0.18μm工艺的DVBT数字电视解调芯片为例,分析了时钟偏移的产生原因.介殚绍了使用Synopsys公司Astro工具进行时钟树综合的方法,重点分析了在时钟树综合之前如何设置约束手动优化电路从而改善设计的时序,最后的流片结果证明该方法是有效的.     

同步电路设计中CLOCK SKEW 的分析

Clock skew是数字集成电路设计中一个重要的因素。本文比较了在同步电路设计中0clock skew和非0clock skew时钟分布对电路性能的影响，分析了通过调整时钟树中CLOCK SKEW来改善电路性能的方法，从而说明非0clock skew时钟分布是如何提高同步电路运行的最大时钟频率的。     

一种独立调节两相脉宽的不交叠时钟产生电路

由于开关电容电路具有同标准CMOS工艺兼容性好、时间常数精确度高、电压线性度好等优点,在滤波器、A/D中得到广泛的应用.在开关电容电路中,一个必不可少的单元便是两相不交叠时钟产生单元,它产生不交叠时钟,控制节点不会同时被两个电压驱动;产生提前关断的时钟,以减少电荷注入效应的影响.分析了传统不交叠时钟的电路原理和时序,在此基础上提出了一种独立调节两相脉宽的不交叠时钟产生电路,并分析了它在△∑调制器、流水线结构A/D以及滤波器中的应用前景.     

高速时钟电路的可靠性设计

本文介绍单片机及数字电路系统中高速时钟电路可靠性设计思路与方法,提出了高速时钟源的电源滤波电路的可靠性设计方法、提出了如何解决高速时钟走线的串扰问题手段、高速时钟延时调整及处理方法、高速时钟信号布线方法.     

DSP系统中时钟电路的设计

在 DSP 系统中,时钟电路是处理数字信息的基础,　同时它也是产生电磁辐射的主要来源,其性能好坏直接影响到系统是否正常运行,所以时钟电路在数字系统设计中占有至关重要的地位。下面主要以TI公司的产品为例介绍DSP系统中时钟电路的设计。1.时钟电路的种类TI　DSP系统中的时钟电     

用分量匹配法实现对高速时钟电路的动态优化

本文讨论如何设计工作在GHz频率下的VLSI芯片时钟电路.时钟树采用平衡平面布局消除时钟偏差;利用插入缓冲器对电路性能进行动态优化.最后用一个电路模拟软件对电路进行评估.和以往的工作相比较,本文实现了在频域内对时钟电路的优化,显著地提高了仿真速度.     

时钟树综合中的有效时钟偏移

为了解决用传统时钟树综合策略来设计芯片只能尽量减小时钟偏移,而不能满足时序收敛的问题,文中引入了有效时钟偏移的概念,并通过在TSMC0.13μm工艺下流片成功的芯片BES7000作为设计实例,分析了有效时钟偏移引入之后对改进时序建立时间的效果。     

FPGA芯片时钟架构分析

FPGA设计中时钟信号的设计与处理是保证系统稳定工作的重要组成部分,随着FPGA器件规模的不断增大,集成度不断提高,多时钟域管理、时钟延迟、时钟信号完整性和相位偏移等已成为影响FPGA设计的关键因素。结合微电子电路相关知识,针对Xilinx公司的Virtex4系列芯片,详细分析其时钟架构及时钟资源的特性。针对FPGA时钟设计的典型应用情况,从芯片角度给出了时钟设计与使用的一些技巧和建议。     

All digital skew tolerant synchronous interfacing methods for high-performance point-to-point communications in deep sub-micron SoCs

High-performance clocking of intellectual property (IP) modules, within a skew budget, is becoming difficult in deep sub-micron technologies. In this work, we propose a novel and all-digital synchronous design method for point-to-point communications, using two stages of interfacing registers and locally delayed clock with phase adjustments. This design is free from synchronizers and clock-data mismatch problems. Moreover, communicating modules run at frequencies which are virtually independent of the clock skew. We also provide a comprehensive case-wise mathematical analysis to facilitate design automation for synthesizing such designs as standard cells. An overall improvement in skew tolerance of up to n times (where n is the number of registers used), when compared to conventional designs, is achieved when the skew orientation is known and n/2 times if the skew orientation is unknown. Improvement in skew tolerance is validated using gate level simulations with the 0.18 μm TSMC CMOS technology. A prototype implementation of the proposed design using a Virtex-II Pro FPGA from Xilinx validates the claim that such designs allow a fast module to communicate with a slow module without constraining their frequencies.     

Statistical skew modeling for general clock distribution networksin presence of process variations

Clock skew modeling is important in the performance evaluation and prediction of clock distribution networks. This paper addresses the problem of statistical skew modeling for general clock distribution networks in the presence of process variations. The only available statistical skew model is not suitable for modeling the clock skews of general clock distribution networks in which clock paths are not identical. The old model is also too conservative for estimating the clock skew of a well-balanced clock network that has identical but strongly correlated clock paths (for instance, a well-balanced H-tree). In order to provide a more accurate and more general statistical skew model for general clock distributions, we propose a new approach to estimating the mean values and variances of both clock skews and the maximal clock delay of general clock distribution networks. Based on the new approach, a closed-form model is also obtained for well-balanced H-tree clock distribution networks. The paths delay correlation caused by the overlapped parts of path lengths is considered in the new approach, so the mean values and the variances of both clock skews and the maximal clock delay are accurately estimated for general clock distribution networks. This enables an accurate estimate of yields of both clock skew and maximal clock delay to be made for a general clock distribution network     

用Encounter实现Mesh-Local-Tree结构的时钟设计流程

提出了一种实用的设计流程,即在Cadencd公司的Encounter环境中去实现对网格 本地树(MLT)时钟结构的综合与分析方法.对一个实际工业设计试验的数据表明:运用Clockmesh CRS的综合方式,MLT的时钟架构相对于单一的树结构能够实现更小的时钟偏差(114ps、 171ps).同时,将这种设计流程运用于其他设计中,以比较MLT和CTS不同的设计流程.结果显示,MLT的时钟架构可以实现更小的时钟偏差,同时还可以降低缓冲器的数量,这样也弥补了单一网格结构的功耗问题.     

低偏斜、高变化容忍的层次化无缓冲谐振时钟分布网络

无缓冲谐振时钟分布网络能够最小化同步系统的时钟功耗。但由于没有缓冲器,时钟网络的偏斜受到多方面因素的影响,例如时钟互连线寄生参数的差异,非平衡时钟负载以及工艺、电压温度变化。本文提出了一种层次化的两相无缓冲谐振时钟互连网络结构,将网格型和树型结构的各自优点相结合。在TSMC 65nm标准CMOS工艺下,通过一个流水线乘法器电路分析了该结构时钟网络的偏斜及变化容忍特性。版图后仿真结果表明,层次化时钟网络的偏斜分别比纯网格和纯H树结构时钟网络降低超过75%和65%,而且在非平衡时钟负载或工艺、电压温度变化的情况下,时钟网络偏斜最高小于7ps,不超过整个时钟周期（约760ps）的1%。     

Statistical clock skew modeling with data delay variations

Accurate clock skew budgets are important for microprocessor designers to avoid hold-time failures and to properly allocate resources when optimizing global and local paths. Many published clock skew budgets neglect voltage jitter and process variation, which are becoming dominant factors in otherwise balanced H-trees. However, worst-case process variation assumptions are severely pessimistic. This paper describes the major sources of clock skew in a microprocessor using a modified H-tree and applies the model to a second-generation Itanium-M processor family microprocessor currently under design. Monte Carlo simulation is used to develop statistical clock skew budgets for setup and hold time constraints in a four-level skew hierarchy. Voltage jitter through the phase locked loop (PLL) and clock buffers accounts for the majority of skew budgets. We show that taking into account the number of nearly critical paths between clocked elements at each level of the skew hierarchy and variations in the data delays of these paths reduces the difference between global and local skew budgets by more than a factor of two. Another insight is that data path delay variability limits the potential cycle-time benefits of active deskew circuits because the paths with the worst skew are unlikely to also be the paths with the longest data delays     

Iterative skew minimization for low swing clocks

This paper presents a new methodology that implements a low swing clock tree. For low power IC design, low swing clock trees are one of the known techniques to lower the overall power dissipation through decreasing the power consumption of the clock network, while trading off the clock skew, local timing (slack) and the variation-tolerance (due to decreased noise margin). In this paper, an iterative skew minimization scheme for low swing clock trees is proposed via in-place buffer sizing considering multiple process corners. The proposed approach can preserve the power savings of the low swing clock tree implementation across multiple process corners. The effect of the decreased clock swing on the local timing is analyzed: The degradation in the timing slack is shown to be insignificant due to bounded clock slew eliminating most of the timing degradation on the clock network or the logic paths induced by decreased clock swing. The experimental results show that the proposed methodology can achieve an average of up to 11% power savings, with a skew degradation of less than 5% compared to the original full-swing clock tree, satisfying a practical skew budget. The proposed scheme is highly practical as it only performs in-place buffer sizing on the original clock tree.     

一种10ps以下时钟偏差的纯数字电路分频器设计

本文对一款常用任意整数分频器进行改进,提出了一种纯数字、低时钟偏差、可获得任意整数分频结果的时钟分频器设计方案.该分频器由计数器与输出锁存器构成,通过调节逻辑结构与线延迟,完全平衡各时钟传播路径,大幅降低时钟偏差.仿真结果表明,在TSMC 0.13μm CMOS工艺下,当输入时钟频率在600MHz时,时钟偏差可控制在10ps以内.该分频器还包含自测电路,可判断时钟偏差是否满足要求.     

Design of Thermally Robust Clock Trees Using Dynamically Adaptive Clock Buffers

On-chip temperature gradient has emerged as a major design concern for high-performance integrated circuits for the current and future technology nodes. Clock skew is an undesirable phenomenon for synchronous digital circuits that is exacerbated by the temperature difference between various parts of the clock tree. The main aim of this paper is to provide intelligent solution for minimizing the temperature-dependent clock skew by designing dynamically adaptive circuit elements, particularly the clock buffers. Using an RLC model of the clock tree, we investigate the effect of on-chip temperature gradient on the clock skew for a number of temperature profiles that can arise in practice due to different architectures and applications. As an effective way of mitigating the variable clock skew, we present an adaptive circuit technique that senses the temperature of different parts of the clock tree and adjusts the driving strengths of the corresponding clock buffers dynamically to reduce the clock skew. Simulation results demonstrate that our adaptive technique is capable of reducing the skew by up to 92.4%, leading to much improved clock synchronization and design performance.