5/26/2016
4thMay2013
CombinationalLoops
CombinationalLoops
You would often hear backend engineers remonstrating the frontend
designfolksonthepresenceofcombinationalloopsinthedesign.Butwhy
dotheycreatesuchahueandcry?Whatpossiblycouldoneormaybefew
combinational loops do? Well, potentially, they can render the entire
functionality of the SoC haywire and not taken care off. And some
combinationalloops,ontheotherhand,areindispensablefortheevolution
ofaparticulartechnology.We'llseehowandwhy.
Acomboloopisstructurewhichisformedbyasignalstartingfrom
aninputofacombinationalgate,afterpassingthroughoneormore
combinational gate, reaches the same combo gate from which it
startedwithoutencounteringanysequentialelementinbetween.
Here'swhatageneralizedcombolooplookslike:
[http://2.bp.blogspot.com/
H1rZifRhEaI/UYS2XUcBcSI/AAAAAAAAAYw/3npxw2AGx8s/s1600/Combo_1.bmp]
UnstableLoops:Let's start with a basic combo loop that you must
have studied in your academics or at least heard about it. The
reverend Ring Oscillator. It is an inveterate fallacy that a ring
oscillator can be used to make a clock generating circuit. Trust me,
clock generating or even divider circuits, for that matter, are not as
simpleastheringoscillatorshownbelow.
[http://2.bp.blogspot.com/
http://vlsisoc.blogspot.in/2013/05/combinationalloops.html
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ZAxsquRsaPY/UYS3UbOx5PI/AAAAAAAAAY8/qrAw1ici8rM/s1600/Ring_Osc.bmp]
Of what use could this simple circuit be? Well, if we can control any one
inputofanyofthethreeinvertersshownhere,wecanknowthedelayof
an inverter which is often the first cell to be characterized in any
technology.Moreover,teststructureslikethesealsohelpthefoundryguys
in determining the manufacturing process of a particular chip whether it
wasWCSorBCS.
Stable Loops: Here's an example of a stable loop consisting of an
OR gate. Note that, as soon as the free input receives a logic 1, the
output goes to 1.And same signal is conveyed back to the another
input,andtheloopisstableorratherstuckat1.
[http://2.bp.blogspot.com/
JnY0OX_pmk/UYS55Z9zMI/AAAAAAAAAZU/LLcnr4bKqZg/s1600/stable_loop.bmp]
Notethatstableloopswouldnotposeproblemsofcopiousdynamicpower
consumption. But such a loops pose headaches to DFT teams. Recall
fromthepost:TwoPillarsofDFT:Controllability&Observability [http://vlsi
soc.blogspot.in/2013/04/twopillarsofdftcontrollability.html] , we talked about
how stuckat faults are simulated and detected. If such a loop would be
presentinthedesign,anystuckatfaultsinthevicinityofthisgatecannot
beobserved,andhenceDFTteamwouldlosetheirstuckatcoveragebya
considerableamount!!
STA Concerns: We started this post with a preamble talking about
backendengineersrepiningthefrontendengineers.Howwouldabackend
engineerbeaffectedbyacomboloop?Here'show.
Recallfromthepost:FactorsAffectingDelaysofStandardCells [http://vlsi
soc.blogspot.in/2012/07/factorsaffectingdelaysofstandard.html] that the delay
andoutputslewofanystandardcelldependsontheinputslewandoutput
load.Thebelowfigureshowsonesuchexample,whereslewcankeepon
degrading indefinitely, and would ultimately impact the timing and more
importantlythepowerconsumptionoftheSoC.
http://vlsisoc.blogspot.in/2013/05/combinationalloops.html
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[http://4.bp.blogspot.com/
Rf8THNsxTw/UYTEVNL1EnI/AAAAAAAAAZg/C_Tocquhqx8/s1600/Slew_deg.bmp]
To sum up, combo loops must be avoided in all SoCs except for special
circumstances like ring oscillator circuit can be employed for testing
thecharacteristicsoftheSoC.
Posted4thMay2013byNamanGupta
Labels:CombinationalLoops,ComboLoops,RingOscillator,Slew
Degradation
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