STA:

Whati
sOCV? Tellt
hedi f
ferencebetweenOCV&AOCVandwhi chhaslowerpessimi
sm?
 OCVisOnchipvar
iation.Thisi
svari
ati
onappli
edtocel
l
sandnetsinthef
orm ofder
ates.
 Whil
eAOCVisAdv anceOCVwher etheder
atesar
ebasedonDepthanddist
anceofthelogi
c
gat
esinati
mingpath.
 AOCVIthasl
esserPessi mism.

Whati
sthediff
erencei
nUncer
tai
ntyval
uesforSetupandHold.
 Ji t
teri
snotappli
edf
orHOLD, whi
leal
lotheruncer
tai
nti
esar
eappl
i
edt
obot
hset
upandhol
d.

Whati
stemper atur
eInversi
on
 Atl owernodest hesuppl
yv ol
tagei
sl esser,hencetheef
fectofthr
esholdv ol
tagei
smor eon
thedelay,comparedtomobi l
i
tyofthecar r
iers.Sowhenthereisanincreasetemperat
ure,
Vt
decreasesmakest hecell
faster
,whichistheot herwayaroundathighertechnol
ogynodes.

Whatarethemet hodologiesortechniquesusedi npri

met i
met ooptimizethepathsandwhatare
adv
antages/disadv antages.
 fixi
nghi ght ransi
ti
onandcapnet seitherbycellsi
zingorbufferaddit
ion
 cellsizing, whent hecell
doesnothav eproperdrivestr
ength,cannotupsize,beyondan
optimal pointwherepropagati
ondel ayofthecel l
ismor e,whichmaycausef ur
thersl
ack
degradat i
on.
 Bufferinser ti
on,whent henetlengthismor e
 cloningt hecel l
s,whichhashugef an-out
 useful skewopt i
on

Whatar
ethecomponent sofSDC?Wheny ouwillusemax_del
ayandout
put
_del
ayi
nSDC
Desi
gnconstr
aint
s,Timingandoptimi
zat
ionconstr
aint
s
 set_
maxdel ayisusedforcombi
nati
onlogi
c
 set_
output_
delayisusedforOut
putint
erf
acelogic

Whatar
ethecomponent
sinCl
ockl
atency
 Sourceandnetwor
k

Whatar
ethetypesofcl
ocksisSDC
 mast er
,gener
atedandvir
tual

Whati
sthefunctionofv i
rtual cl
ock?
 Forpat hsgoingt hr
oughapr imaryinputport
,thet ool needstoknowthefrequencyoftheclock
dri
vi
ngt hesignalinor dertocreateapropertimi ngpat h.Si
mil
arl
yforout
putpor t
s,thetool
needstoknowt hef r
equencyoft heflopcapturingt hesignal
.Thesei
nputsandout putshence
aredef
inedwi threspectt otheclockcall
edvirtual clock

Whatar
ethetypesofl
eakages
 Sub-thr
esholdl
eakage,
Rev
ersebi
asdi
odel
eakage,
shor
tci
rcui
tcur
rentandgat
eleakage.
DrawtheICGstr
uct
ure.[
Thequest
ioni
sai
medt
oseewher
eyouwi
l
lpl
acet
heLat
chandhowdoy
ou
connecti
ttot
heAndgate]

Whati sDMSA?Howdoy ouimplementDMSA

PrimeTi mecananal yzesev er
alscenariosinparall
elwit di
h  st
ri
buted mult
i-
scenario 
anal
ysis (
DMSA) .
I
nst eadofanalyzingeachscenar i
oi nsequence,DMSAusesamast erPrimeTi meprocesst hatsets
up,executes,andcont r
olsmul t
ipleslav
epr ocessesonef oreachscenari
o.Youcandi stri
butethe
processingofscenariosont odiff
erenthostsrunninginparall
el,
thusreducingtheoveral
lturnaround
ti
met oanal
yzet heti
mingr esul
tsf r
om mult i
plescenari
os.Inaddit
ion,t
otalrun-t
imeisreducedwhen
youshar ecommondat abet weendi f
fer
entscenar i
os

Whati
sCRPR?
 Thetimingr eportcontainsartif
ici
all
yi ntr
oducedpessi
mism thatisder
ivedfrom our
usageofmaxandmi ndel ayforthelaunchingandcaptur
ingpathsalongthiscommon
port
ionoft heclocknet wor k.
 Thev al
ueoft hi
spessimi sm,isthedi ffer
encebet
weenmaxandmi ndelayatthe
commonpoi nti
nthecl ocknet work.Theamountofpessimi sm duetothiseffecti
s
cal
led"clockr e-
convergencepessi mi sm".

Howmanyl
i
brari
esdoyouusewheni
mplement
ingtheder
atesf
orOCV.
 onel
ibr
aryeachf
orset
upandhol
danaly
sis

Whati
sGBAandPBA
 Gr aphbasedAnal
ysi
sisatypeofti
minganalysi
s,wheretheworstsl
ewispr
opagated.Hencei
t
canbepessimi
sti
c.
 PBAi spathbasedanal
ysi
s,wher
eactualsl
ewi spropagat
ed.Henceiti
smoreaccurat
e
comparedtoGBA.But,
ismoreti
meconsumi ng.

I
fther
eisaviol
ati
onof100psi
nHal
fcy
clepat
hwhati
sthef
requencyoft
heChi
pwhosef
requencyi
s
10ns.
 1/9.
8ns=102MHz

Whati
sthedi
fferencei
nPTandPTSI.
 PTSIincludescr
osst
alkdel
ay,
whi
l
edoi
ngt
imi
nganal
ysi
s.PTdoesnoti
ncl
udecr
osst
alk
ef
fect
sintotimi
ng.

Whati
sminpulsewidt
handwi l
li
taf
fectclockordatapat
h?
 Minpulsewidthismini
mum pulsewidthrequi
redf
oracl
ocksi
gnal
fori
tscor
rectdet
ect
ion.I
t
wi
l
laff
ectbothclockanddat
apat h.
Howdoy
ouavoi
dGli
tchinI
CG.
 Si
ncet
heenablesi
gnal
isl
atched,
dur
ingnegcy
cleofcl
ock.t
hegl
i
tcheswi
l
lnotbepr
opagat
ed

Whati
scrosst alkGlitch?whati scrosst alkdelay?
 Cr osstalkinducedduet ocoupl i
ngcapaci tance'
sbet weentwonet s.
 Thi scrosst al
ki fitisonst ati
cnet ,causest heglit
ch(crosst
alknoise)onthevi
cti
m net
.
 Ifitisonaswi t chingnets, causescr osstalkdelayont hevi
cti
m net
 Iftheaggr essori sswitchingint hesamedi rect
ionresult
sinasmal lerdel
ayf
ortheswit
chi
ng
netofv i
ctimt her eductioni ndelayislabeledasnegat ivecr
osstalkdelay.
 Aggr essorswi t chinginopposi tedirecti
onr esul
tsinal ar
gerdelayfortheswi
tchi
ngnetof
vi
ctimlabel edasposi t
ivecr osstalkdelay.

Whatar
etheval
uesofR&CinRCW cor
nerextr
acti
on?
 Referstothecorner
swhi
chmaxi mizeint
erconnectRCpr
oduct
.Soal
soknownasRC-
max
cor .
ner

Whati
sti
meBor rowing?
 Thet echni
queofbor
rowi
ngt
imefr
om t
heshor
terpat
hsofthesubsequentl
ogi
cst
agest
othe
l
ongerpathiscal
l
edti
mebor
rowi
ngorcycl
est
eali
nginl
atchbasedti
ming

Doest
imeBor
rowingaf
fectsetuporhold
 Ti
meborrowi
ngeffect
sonlysetupti
me

Whati
smaxi
mum Bor
rowt
imeandnegat
ivebor
rowt
ime
 Maxi mum Borr
owt i
mei stheclockpul
sewidt
hminustheli
brar
ysetupti
meofthe
l
atch.
 Ifthear r
ivalt
imemi nust heclockedgeisanegativenumber,t
heamountoft i
me
borrowingisnegati
ve(i notherwayy oucansaythatnoborrowi
ng).Thi
samountis
knownasNegat i
veBorrowt i
me.

Whati
sMMMC
 Mult
iModeandMul
tiCor
ner

Whatar
ethecontent
sofCheck_ t
imi
ngr epor
t?Whati sthedi
ff
erencei
ncheck_ti
mingrepor
twhen
mul
ti
-cy
cle/fal
sepathisappl
iedandwhennotappl i
ed.
 checkt i
mingrepor
tsanyexcepti
onswhi chareignor
ed,i
ftheexcept
ionsmult
i-
cycl
e/fal
se
pathsar
eappliedi
tnotrepor
tthem asignored.

Whati
ssetupandholdti
me?
 SETUP:Itsthemini
mum timerequi
redforthedatatobest
abl
ebeforet
heacti
veedgeoft
he
cl
ock.
 HOLD: I
tstheminimum t
imerequir
edforthedatatobehol
daftert
heacti
veedgeoft
hecl
ock.

Whatdoestheset
upt
imeofafl
opdependupon?
 Set upti
meofafl
i
p-f
lopdependsupont
heI
nputdat
asl
opeandCl
ocksl
ope

Whatdoesthehol
dti
meofaf l
ip-
fl
opdependupon?
 Hol dti
meofafli
p-f
lopdependsupont
heInputdat
asl
opeandCl
ocksl
ope
I
fhol
dviolat
ionexi
stsi
ndesign,i
sitOKt osignof fdesi
gn?Ifnot,
why ?
 Noy oucannotsignof
fthedesignify ouhav eholdviol
ati
ons.Holdvi
olat
ionsstemmingfrom
thesameclockedgerace,arefrequencyi ndependentandarefunct
ionalfai
l
uresbecausey ou
canendupcapt uri
nguni
ntendeddat a,thusput t
ingyourst
atemachineinanunknownst ate.

Whati
sthedi
ff
erencebet
weenanormalbuf
ferandclockbuf
fer
?
 A CLKbuf f
erwil
lhav
eequal
rai
seandfall
timesandmor ear
eacompar
etonor
mal
buf
fer
.

Howdoclockbuff
ershav
eequal r
iseandfal
lti
me?whyisitimport
ant?
 Thedi f
fer
entri
seandfal
l t
imesarebecauseofdi
ff
erentmobil
it
iesofNMOSandPMOS. t hi
s
wi
llbecompensatedbythesizi
ngwidt
hsofNMOSandPMOSt ogetequal
riseandf
all
times
 It'
simport
anttohaveequalri
seandfallt
imestomaintai
nduty
-cycl
e.

whatar
eclockgat i
ngchecks? whyt heyarer
equir
ed?
 Acl ockgati
ngcheckoccur swhenagat i
ngsignal cancont
rolt
hepat hofaclocksi
gnal ata
logiccell
.
 Thecl ockgati
ngchecki sintendedtovali
datethatthegati
ngpintransi
ti
ondoesnotcr eatean
activeedgeforthef an-outclock
 Theset upcheckv ali
datest hatthegati
ngsignalisstabl
ebefor
et heacti
veedgeofthecl ock
signal.Asetupfail
urecancauseagl it
chtoappearatt hegati
ngcel l
output
.
 Thehol dcheckv al
idatesthatt hegati
ngsignalisstabl
eattheinacti
veedgeoftheclocksignal
.

Howdoyouf i
xsetupandholdv i
olati
ons
 Weaddbuf fer
st oi
ncreasedrivestr
engt
h,swappingofSVTandHVTcel l
stoLVTcel
l
sin
cr
it
icalpat
hs,andup-sizi
ngofcellscanal
sobedone.
 setupcanbef ixedusi
ngusef ulskewopti
onifnoneoftheabovef
ixeswork
 Forhol dwedot hevi
cev ersa,wedownsizethecell
s,swappi
ngofcell
stoHVTandbuff
er
i
nserti
on

Whyset
upi
scheckedont
henextedgeandhol
discheckedont
hesameedge

 AsHolddoesnotdependonthefr
equencyandsetupi
sdependentoncl
ockf
requencyand
si
ncedatashoul
darri
vebef
oresetupt
imeofflop.

 Launchi
ngdat
a(hol
d)hast
obev
eri
fi
edbef
orei
tisbei
ngcapt
ured(
set
up)t
omakesur
edat
a
i
ntegri
ty.