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Chapter1 Chapter2 Chapter3 Chapter
"Timing Paths" : Static Timing Analysis (STA) basic (Part 1)
STA & SI:: Chapter 2: Static Timing Analysis
2.1 2.2 2.3a 2.3b 2.3c 2.4a
Basic Concept Of Basic Concept of Setup-Hold Examples:S-H
Timing Paths Time Borrowing Timing Path Delay
Setup-Hold Violation Time/Violation
2.4b 2.4c 2.5a 2.5b 2.6a 2.6b
Interconnect Delay Delay - Wire Load Maximum Clock Calculate “Max Clock Freq”- Fix Setup-Hold
Fix Setup-Hold Violation-1
Models Model Frequency Examples Violation-2
2.6c 2.7a 2.7b 2.7c 2.8
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Fix Setup-Hold Incr/Decr Delay Incr/Decr Delay 10 ways to fix Setup-Hold
Incr/Decr Delay Method-3
Violation-3 Method-1 Method-2 Violation.
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Static Timing analysis is divided into several parts:

Part1 -> Timing Paths
Part2 -> Time Borrowing
Part3a -> Basic Concept Of Setup and Hold
Blog A
Part3b -> Basic Concept of Setup and Hold Violation
► 20
Part3c -> Practical Examples for Setup and Hold Time / Violation
► 20
Part4a -> Delay - Timing Path Delay ► 20
Part4b -> Delay - Interconnect Delay Models ► 20
Part4c -> Delay - Wire Load Model ► 20
VLSI EXPERT (vlsi EG)
Part5a -> Maximum Clock Frequency google.com/+Vlsi-expert ► 20

Part5b -> Examples to calculate the “Maximum Clock Frequency” for different circuits. Bridging Gap Between ► 20
Acdamia and Industry ▼ 20
Part 6a -> How to solve Setup and Hold Violation (basic example)
►
Part 6b -> Continue of How to solve Setup and Hold Violation (Advance examples) Follow
►
Part 6c -> Continue of How to solve Setup and Hold Violation (more advance examples) 333 followers
►
Part 7a -> Methods for Increase/Decrease the Delay of Circuit (Effect of Wire Length On the Slew)
►
Part 7b -> Methods for Increase/Decrease the Delay of Circuit (Effect of Size of the Transistor On the Slew)
▼
Total Pageviews
Part 7c -> Methods for Increase/Decrease the Delay of Circuit (Effect of Threshold voltage On the Slew)
Part 8 -> 10 ways to fix Setup and Hold Violation. 5,788,043
As we have discussed in our last blog (about Basic of Timing analysis that there are 2 types of timing analysis.
Static Timing Analysis
Dynamic Timing Analysis.
Note: There is one more type of Timing analysis: "Manual Analysis". But now a days nothing is 100% Manual. Evey thing is more automated and Subscribe To VLSI EXPERT
less manual. So that we are not discussing right now.
Posts
In this Blog (and few next as a part of this) we will discuss about the Static Timing Analysis. We will discuss Dynamic Timing Analysis later
Comments
on.Static Timing analysis is divided into several parts as per the above mentioned list.

Static Timing Analysis: Popular Posts

Static timing analysis is a method of validating the timing performance of a design by checking all possible paths for timing violations under worst- "Timing Paths" : Static
Timing Analysis (STA) ►
case conditions. It considers the worst possible delay through each logic element, but not the logical operation of the circuit. basic (Part 1)
► 20
In comparison to circuit simulation, static timing analysis is Basic of Timing ► 20
Analysis in Physical
Faster - It is faster because it does not need to simulate multiple test vectors. Design
 More Thorough - It is more thorough because it checks the worst-case timing for all possible logic conditions, not just those sensitized EDN:
SH AR ES
by a particular set of test vectors. "Setup and Hold Time"
: Static Timing Analysis Fo
Once again Note this thing : Static timing analysis checks the design only for proper timing, not for correct logical functionality. (STA) basic (Part 3a) ve
two
"Examples Of Setup So
Static timing analysis seeks to answer the question, “Will the correct data be present at the data input of each synchronous device when the clock
and Hold time" : Static ve
edge arrives, under all possible conditions?” Timing Analysis (STA) Im
basic (Part 3c) ma
In static timing analysis, the word static alludes to the fact that this timing analysis is carried out in an input-independent manner. It locates the es
worst-case delay of the circuit over all possible input combinations. There are huge numbers of logic paths inside a chip of complex design. The "Setup and Hold Time
As
Violation" : Static
advantage of STA is that it performs timing analysis on all possible paths (whether they are real or potential false paths). Timing Analysis (STA) po
However, it is worth noting that STA is not suitable for all design styles. It has proven efficient only for fully synchronous designs. Since the basic (Part 3b) SA
mi
majority of chip design is synchronous, it has become a mainstay of chip design over the last few decades. ap
Delay - "Wire Load
Model" : Static Timing Re
The Way STA is performed on a given Circuit: Analysis (STA) basic fixe
To check a design for violations or say to perform STA there are 3 main steps: (Part 4c) be
sig
Design is broken down into sets of timing paths,
Delay - "Interconnect
Calculates the signal propagation delay along each path Delay Models" : Static
And checks for violations of timing constraints inside the design and at the input/output interface. Timing Analysis (STA)
basic (Part 4b)

The STA tool analyzes ALL paths from each and every startpoint to each and every endpoint and compares it against the constraint that (should) "Time Borrowing" :
Static Timing Analysis
exist for that path. All paths should be constrained, most paths are constrained by the definition of the period of the clock, and the timing
(STA) basic (Part 2)
characteristics of the primary inputs and outputs of the circuit.
10 Ways to fix SETUP
Before we start all this we should know few key concepts in STA method: timing path, arrive time, required time, slack and critical path. and HOLD violation:
Static Timing Analysis
Let's Talk about these one by one in detail. In this Blog we will mainly Focus over Different Types of Timing Paths.
(STA) Basic (Part-8)

Timing Paths: 5 Steps to Crack VLSI

Interview
Timing paths can be divided as per the type of signals (e.g clock signal, data signal etc).

Types of Paths for Timing analysis: Recent Visitors

Data Path Live Traffic Feed

Clock Path A visitor from San
Francisco, California
Clock Gating Path
arrived from google.co.in
Asynchronous Path and viewed "Effect of
Each Timing path has a "Start Point" and an "End Point". Definition of Start Point and End Point vary as per the type of the timing path. E.g for the Threshold voltage: Static
Data path- The startpoint is a place in the design where data is launched by a clock edge. The data is propagated through combinational logic in Timing Analysis (STA)
the path and then captured at the endpoint by another clock edge. A visitor
Basic from Gurgaon,
(Part-7c) |VLSI
Haryana
Concepts"arrived 1 min from ago
Start Point and End Point are different for each type of paths. It's very important to understand this clearly to understand and analysing the Timing vlsi-expert.com and
analysis report and fixing the timing violation. viewed ""Setup and Hold
Time Violation" : Static
Timing Analysis (STA)
Data path A visitor
basic (Partfrom
3b) United
|VLSI
Start Point
States
Concepts" arrived
2 minsfromago
google.com and viewed
Input port of the design (because the input data can be launched from some external source). "Different File Formats
Clock pin of the flip-flop/latch/memory (sequential cell) (file extensions) |VLSI
A visitor from Austin,
End Point Concepts" 4 mins ago
Texas arrived from
Data input pin of the flip-flop/latch/memory (sequential cell) google.com and viewed
Output port of the design (because the output data can be captured by some external sink)
""Setup and Hold Time
Violation" : Static Timing
Clock Path Analysis (STA) basic
Start Point
A visitor
(Part from India
3b) |VLSI Concepts"
arrived
5 mins ago from google.co.in
Clock input port and viewed "10 Ways to
End Point fix SETUP and HOLD
violation: Static Timing
Clock pin of the flip-flop/latch/memory (sequential cell)
Analysis
A visitor (STA) Basic
from Hyderabad,
Clock Gating Path (Part-8) Pradesh
Andhra |VLSI Concepts"arrived
Start Point 6 mins
from ago
google.co.in and
viewed "How to Prepare
Input port of the design
Good Resume |VLSI
A visitor from Salai,
End Point Concepts" 11 mins ago
Jharkhand arrived from
Input port of clock-gating element. google.co.in and viewed
Asynchronous path "CMOS Layout Design:
Introduction |VLSI
Start Point A visitor from Bangalore,
Concepts" 12 mins ago
Input Port of the design
Karnataka arrived from
vlsi-expert.com and
End Point viewed "VLSI Concepts:
Set/Reset/Clear pin of the flip-flop/latch/memory (sequential cell) Vlsi Interview Questions"
A visitor from Bangalore,
16 mins ago
Karnataka viewed
Data Paths: "UNATE : Timing Arc
|VLSI
A visitor Concepts"
from 16 mins
If we use all the combination of 2 types of Starting Point and 2 types of End Point, we can say that there are 4 types of Timing Paths on the basis ago
Netherlands arrived from
of Start and End point. vlsi-expert.com and
Input pin/port to Register(flip-flop). viewed "How to Prepare
Good Resume |VLSI
Input pin/port to Output pin/port. Real-time view · Get Feedjit

Register (flip-flop) to Register (flip-flop)

Register (flip-flop) to Output pin/port

Followers
Please see the following fig:
SH AR ES Followers (480) Next

Follow
Timing Path- 4 types of Data Path

PATH1- starts at an input port and ends at the data input of a sequential element. (Input port to Register)
PATH2- starts at the clock pin of a sequential element and ends at the data input of a sequential element. (Register to Register)
PATH3- starts at the clock pin of a sequential element and ends at an output port.(Register to Output port).
PATH4- starts at an input port and ends at an output port. (Input port to Output port)

Clock Path:

Please check the following figure

Timing Paths- Clock Paths

In the above fig its very clear that for clock path the starts from the input port/pin of the design which is specific for the Clock input and the end
point is the clock pin of a sequential element. In between the Start point and the end point there may be lots of Buffers/Inverters/clock divider.

Clock Gating Path:

Clock path may be passed trough a “gated element” to achieve additional advantages. In this case, characteristics and definitions of the clock
change accordingly. We call this type of clock path as “gated clock path”.

As in the following fig you can see that

Timing Path- Clock Gating path.

LD pin is not a part of any clock but it is using for gating the original CLK signal. Such type of paths are neither a part of Clock path nor of Data
Path because as per the Start Point and End Point definition of these paths, its different. So such type of paths are part of Clock gating path.

Asynchronous path:

A path from an input port to an asynchronous set or clear pin of a sequential element.

See the following fig for understanding clearly.

Timing Path- Asynchronous Path

As you know that the functionality of set/reset pin is independent from the clock edge. Its level triggered pins and can start functioning at any time
of data. So in other way we can say that this path is not in synchronous with the rest of the circuit and that's the reason we are saying such type
SH AR ESof path an Asynchronous path.

Other types of Paths:

There are few more types of path which we usually use during timing analysis reports. Those are subset of above mention paths with some
specific characteristics. Since we are discussing about the timing paths, so it will be good if we will discuss those here also.

Few names are

Critical path
False Path
Multi-cycle path
Single Cycle path
Launch Path
Capture Path
Longest Path ( also know as Worst Path, Late Path, Max Path , Maximum Delay Path )
Shortest Path ( Also Know as Best Path, Early Path, Min Path, Minimum Delay Path)

Critical Path:

In short, I can say that the path which creates Longest delay is the critical path.
Critical paths are timing-sensitive functional paths. because of the timing of these paths is critical, no additional gates are allowed to
be added to the path, to prevent increasing the delay of the critical path.
Timing critical path are those path that do not meet your timing. What normally happens is that after synthesis the tool will give you a
number of path which have a negative slag. The first thing you would do is to make sure those path are not false or multicycle since it
that case you can just ignore them.
Taking a typical example (in a very simpler way), the STA tool will add the delay contributed from all the logic connecting the Q output of one flop
to the D input of the next (including the CLK->Q of the first flop), and then compare it against the defined clock period of the CLK pins (assuming
both flops are on the same clock, and taking into account the setup time of the second flop and the clock skew). This should be strictly less than
the clock period defined for that clock. If the delay is less than the clock period, then the "path meets timing". If it is greater, than the "path fails
timing". The "critical path" is the path out of all the possible paths that either exceeds its constraint by the largest amount, or, if all paths pass,
then the one that comes closest to failing.

False Path:

Physically exist in the design but those are logically/functionally incorrect path. Means no data is transferred from Start Point to End
Point. There may be several reasons of such path present in the design.
Some time we have to explicitly define/create few false path with in the design. E.g for setting a relationship between 2 Asynchronous
Clocks.
The goal in static timing analysis is to do timing analysis on all “true” timing paths, these paths are excluded from timing analysis.
Since false path are not exercised during normal circuit operation, they typically don't meet timing specification,considering false path
during timing closure can result into timing violations and the procedure to fix would introduce unnecessary complexities in the design.
There may be few paths in your design which are not critical for timing or masking other paths which are important for timing
optimization, or never occur with in normal situation. In such case , to increase the run time and improving the timing result , sometime
we have to declare such path as a False path , so that Timing analysis tool ignore these paths and so the proper analysis with respect
to other paths. Or During optimization don't concentrate over such paths. One example of this. e.g A path between two multiplexed
blocks that are never enabled at the same time. You can see the following picture for this.

False Path

Here you can see that False path 1 and False Path 2 can not occur at the same time but during optimization it can effect the timing of another
path. So in such scenario, we have to define one of the path as false path.

Same thing I can explain in another way (Note- Took snapshot from one of the forum). As we know that, not all paths that exist in a circuit are
"real" timing paths. For example, let us assume that one of the primary inputs to the chip is a configuration input; on the board it must be tied
either to VCC or to GND. Since this pin can never change, there are never any timing events on that signal. As a result, all STA paths that start at
this particular startpoint are false. The STA tool (and the synthesis tool) cannot know that this pin is going to be tied off, so it needs to be told that
these STA paths are false, which the designer can do by telling the tool using a "false_path" directive. When told that the paths are false, the STA
tool will not analyze it (and hence will not compare it to a constraint, so this path can not fail), nor will a synthesis tool do any optimizations on that
particular path to make it faster; synthesis tools try and improve paths until they "meet timing" - since the path is false, the synthesis tool has no
work to do on this path.
Thus, a path should be declared false if the designer KNOWS that the path in question is not a real timing path, even though it looks like one to
the STA tool. One must be very careful with declaring a path false. If you declare a path false, and there is ANY situation where it is actually a real
path, then you have created the potential for a circuit to fail, and for the most part, you will not catch the error until the chip is on a board, and
(not) working. Typically, false paths exists

from configuration inputs like the one described above

from "test" inputs; inputs that are only used in the testing of the chip,and are tied off in normal mode (however, there may still be some
static timing constraints for the test mode of the chip)
from asynchronous inputs to the chip (and you must have some form of synchronizing circuit on this input) (this is not an exhaustive
list, but covers the majority of legitimate false paths).
So we can say that false paths should NOT be derived from running the STA tool (or synthesis tool); they should be known by the designer as
part of the definition of the circuit, and constrained accordingly at the time of initial synthesis.

MultiCycle Path:
SH AR ES A multicycle path is a timing path that is designed to take more than one clock cycle for the data to propagate from the startpoint to the
endpoint.

A multi-cycle path is a path that is allowed multiple clock cycles for propagation. Again, it is a path that starts at a timing startpoint and ends at a
timing endpoint. However, for a multi-cycle path, the normal constraint on this path is overridden to allow for the propagation to take multiple
clocks.
In the simplest example, the startpoint and endpoint are flops clocked by the same clock. The normal constraint is therefore applied by the
definition of the clock; the sum of all delays from the CLK arrival at the first flop to the arrival at the D of the second clock should take no more
than 1 clock period minus the setup time of the second flop and adjusted for clock skew.
By defining the path as a multicycle path you can tell the synthesis or STA tool that the path has N clock cycles to propagate; so the timing check
becomes "the propagation must be less than N x clock_period, minus the setup time and clock skew". N can be any number greater than 1.

Few examples are

When you are doing clock crossing from two closely related clocks; ie. from a 30MHz clock to a 60MHz clock,
Assuming the two clocks are from the same clock source (i.e. one is the divided clock of the other), and the two clocks are
in phase.
The normal constraint in this case is from the rising edge of the 30MHz clock to the nearest edge of the 60MHz clock,
which is 16ns later. However, if you have a signal in the 60MHz domain that indicates the phase of the 30MHz clock, you
can design a circuit that allows for the full 33ns for the clock crossing, then the path from flop30 -> to flop60 is a MCP
(again with N=2).
The generation of the signal 30MHZ_is_low is not trivial, since it must come from a flop which is clocked by the 60MHz
clock, but show the phase of the 30MHz clock.
Another place would be when you have different parts of the design that run at different, but related frequencies. Again, consider a
circuit that has some stuff running at 60MHz and some running on a divided clock at 30MHz.
Instead of actually defining 2 clocks, you can use only the faster clock, and have a clock enable that prevents the clocks in
the slower domain from updating every other clock,
Then all the paths from the "30MHz" flops to the "30MHz" flops can be MCP.
This is often done since it is usually a good idea to keep the number of different clock domains to a minimum.

Single Cycle Path:

A Single-cycle path is a timing path that is designed to take only one clock cycle for the data to propagate from the startpoint to the endpoint.

Launch Path and Capture Path:

Both are inter-related so I am describing both in one place. When a flip flop to filp-flop path such as UFF1 to UFF3 is considered, one of the flip-
flop launches the data and other captures the data. So here UFF1 is referred to "launch Flip-flop" and UFF3 referred to "capture flip-flop".

These Launch and Capture terminology are always referred to a flip-flop to flip-flop path. Means for this particular path (UFF1->UFF3), UFF1 is
launch flip-flop and UFF3 is capture flip-flop. Now if there is any other path starting from UFF3 and ends to some other flip-flop (lets assume
UFF4), then for that path UFF3 become launch flip-flop and UFF4 be as capture flip-flop.

The Name "Launch path" referred to a part of clock path. Launch path is launch clock path which is responsible for launching the data at launch
flip flop. And Similarly Capture path is also a part of clock path. Capture path is capture clock path which is responsible for capturing the data at
capture flip flop.This is can be clearly understood by following fig.

Launch Clock Path (Launch Path) and Capture Clock Path (Capture path)

Here UFF0 is referred to launch flip-flop and UFF1 as capture flip-flop for "Data path" between UFF0 to UFF1.So Start point for this data path is
UFF0/CK and end point is UFF1/D.

One thing I want to add here (which I will describe later in my next blog- but its easy to understand here)-
Launch path and data path together constitute arrival time of data at the input of capture flip-flop.
Capture clock period and its path delay together constitute required time of data at the input of capture register.

Note: Its very clear that capture and launch paths are correspond to Data path. Means same clock path can be a launch path for one data path
SH AR ESand be a capture path for another datapath. Its will be clear by the following fig (source of Fig is From Synopsys).

Same clock path behave like Capture and Launch path for different Data path.

Here you can see that for Data path1 the clock path through BUF cell is a capture path but for Data path2 its a Launch Path.

Longest and Shortest Path:

Between any 2 points, there can be many paths.

Longest path is the one that takes longest time, this is also called worst path or late path or a max path.
The shortest path is the one that takes the shortest time; this is also called the best path or early path or a min path.

In the above fig, The longest path between the 2 flip-flop is through the cells UBUF1,UNOR2 and UNAND3. The shortest path between the 2 flip-
flops is through the cell UNAND3.

I have tried my best to capture all the important points related to the Timing Paths. Please Let me know If anything is missing here.

Timing Analysis Basis (Previous) Index Time Borrowing (Next)

Posted by VLSI EXPERT at 2:17 PM

Reactions: Excellent (20) Good (2) Interesting (4) Need More (0)

82 comments:
samiappa sakthikumaran March 10, 2011 at 9:48 PM
Hi sir, if for a certain timing contraint u give for ex: let me say that my clock period is 5ns and if slack is met using synopsys primetime, so can i say my
frequency of operation of my whole ckt is 200MHz ??? kindly reply. Thanks
Reply

Replies

Prashanth Anil Mascarenhas February 10, 2014 at 8:01 PM

Yes. Frequency = 1 / Clock Period

Reply

Indu Mathi April 15, 2011 at 4:03 PM

Hi,

Fabulous work u r doing. Reaaly the topics covered in this blog are helping me a lot.

Thanks & Regards,

indu.

Reply

your VLSI April 18, 2011 at 11:19 AM

Hi @Samiappa -- you are right.. if slack is meeting.. then you can say .. but still there is a "can".. :) means its not 100% true. There are other factors
also. Please see my other blogs for details...

@Indu -- Thanks a lot for such a appreciation.

SH AR ES Reply

Indu Mathi April 19, 2011 at 10:54 AM

Hi,

I have some doubts in basics of CTS. How can i communicate with you to discuss about my queries? i mailed you yesterday ( mail ID i got from this
blog - [email protected] ) but the mail delivery is failed. If you don't mind may i have your right mail ID.

I will be more help-full if you can reply to my queries..Since i have more queries i'm asking you to provide any other option which i can communicate
with you or do let me know if i shall post my queries here.

Will we waiting for your reply ...

Thanks & Regards,

Indu.
Reply

your VLSI April 19, 2011 at 12:51 PM

Hi Indu,

I am okay with either ways.. means by mail and by posting here...

There is a typo in my mail id ( which you have mentioned here)-- Correct one is
[email protected]
Reply

Indu Mathi April 20, 2011 at 11:06 AM

Hi Expert,

I have sent a mail with list of queries to the above given mail ID.

Thanks a lot for your quick response.

Regards,
Indu.

Reply

anil April 20, 2011 at 5:34 PM

Hi Expert,
These concepts helped me a lot.
Thank you very much

Thanks & Regards

Anil
Reply

your VLSI April 21, 2011 at 10:25 AM

Thanks Anil.
Reply

Karl May 29, 2011 at 11:53 PM

Easy to understand and clear...very useful!

Reply

harish June 26, 2011 at 12:33 AM

hello sir,
this is Harish, i just want to say few words abt it. ur blogs are so understandable way to earn knowledge about timing analysis and i recall totally what i
know....
and i got some topics from it easily to remember..
so u did a great job..

suggestion: i think its also good if u present this in ppts

Reply

your VLSI June 26, 2011 at 11:01 AM

hi Harish,
First of all. thanks a lot for such compliment. another thing is .. I have these in PPT and uses when ever I have to present anywhere. you can say that
its for internal use. :)

Reply

Replies

Anonymous July 23, 2013 at 6:54 PM

hello sir,
can u send me those ppts
my email id is [email protected]

Reply

vlsiinterviewquestion September 9, 2011 at 10:48 AM

SH AR ES For multi-cycle paths remember that driving flop/latch holds/keeps output data without changing for more than one cycle, which is the key. Hence there
is more time for data to setup to endpoint and more time for the hold race to not violate.
Reply

VLSI_learner October 28, 2011 at 10:26 PM

Thanks Great work!!!

Reply

Vee Eee Technologies November 23, 2011 at 2:49 PM

Thanks for sharing your info. I really appreciate your efforts and I will be waiting for your further write ups thanks once again.
Vee Eee Technologies
Reply

vimal December 10, 2011 at 9:40 AM

hai sir
this blog was very usefull for my work and easy to understand

great job............

thanks & regards

vimal

Reply

vimal December 10, 2011 at 9:41 AM

hai sir
this blog was very usefull for my work and easy to understand

great job............

thanks & regards

vimal

Reply

chandrakant January 30, 2012 at 6:09 PM

sir,
your explanation is good.Thank you this blog cleared most of my doubts regarding timing paths and static timing analysis.

regards
chandrakant
Reply

chandrakant January 30, 2012 at 6:10 PM

sir,
your explanation is good.Thank you this blog cleared most of my doubts regarding timing paths and static timing analysis.

regards
chandrakant
Reply

jabbar March 3, 2012 at 11:22 AM

thank you friend.
Reply

Swaminatha Vijayaraj April 1, 2012 at 12:20 AM

Very useful, must read for people like me.
Thanks
Swami

Reply

Swaminatha Vijayaraj April 1, 2012 at 12:21 AM

Very useful, must read for people like me.

Thanks
Swami
Reply

rajesh April 16, 2012 at 2:09 PM

The articles are nice .......I am not clear with multicycle path can u provide a figure related to that.....thanks

Reply

Anonymous June 8, 2012 at 11:36 AM

really a nice session for sta terminology...

Reply

Suryansh June 21, 2012 at 2:44 PM

SH AR ES Great Work...
Reply

Anonymous July 3, 2012 at 12:52 PM

Thank you very much for this illustrative explanation on timing analysis ,it is very good for beginner..

Reply

Anonymous July 4, 2012 at 7:42 PM

Hello Sir,

Your blog is terrific and very helpful.

Can you please discuss required time and slack?

Reply

Replies

your VLSI July 10, 2012 at 2:58 PM

Please read Following Blogs

Examples Of Setup and Hold time" : Static Timing Analysis (STA) basic (Part 3c)

Reply

Anonymous August 13, 2012 at 2:54 PM

You should write a book for Standford and IITians. Existing articles and books on this topic shows author themselves do not know what it is. But you
explained it perfectly. So you are expert.
Reply

psychic_life August 27, 2012 at 9:47 PM

I usually find the timing concept bit confusing. But reading your blog is just great. It now looks simple and more easy.
Thanks a ton. Keep up the good work.
Reply

Shivaji Pawar August 29, 2012 at 6:55 PM

Hello Sir,

Your blog has been very eloquent and information wealthy.

Thanks for such blogs.Please keep up the spirit of writing.

Thanks,
Shivaji.
Reply

Anonymous September 25, 2012 at 1:15 PM

very Good post
Reply

Anonymous October 7, 2012 at 8:17 PM

superb explanation from the expert....

Reply

jigs November 6, 2012 at 9:24 AM

what is macro stacking floorplan?.
sir please upload physical design (floorplan,placement,routing )topics ...

Reply

Replies

your VLSI November 8, 2012 at 12:38 PM

Jigs,

regarding the Floorplan/Placement/Routing - you have to wait little bit. But Sure i will update those info also.

Reply

Anonymous November 30, 2012 at 1:05 PM

thank u 4 clearing my doubts

Reply

vijay December 11, 2012 at 7:42 PM

Excellent mr. 'expert' - MCP and shortest and longest path were lucidly described. thanks!
Reply

Anonymous December 11, 2012 at 10:17 PM

SH AR ES Hi,

This is excellent. Please also details about test modes in STA ( scan cap dc, scan cap ac , scan shift, jtag, rambist ).

Reply

deepthi nampally March 28, 2013 at 4:10 PM

This comment has been removed by the author.

Reply

Replies

deepthi nampally March 28, 2013 at 4:11 PM

Hello sir,

Can you please tell the difference between longest path and critical path with example. I am confused with these paths.

Thanks,
Deepthi

your VLSI November 26, 2013 at 2:04 PM

You should not be confused. critical path are that path - which has high impact on the design timing. It can be short or may be long path.
Point is - if there is any issue in the critical path then you have to fix that one first. you can't even compromise with that path.

Longest path .. means more number of gates and more delay in that path.

Reply

Anonymous May 16, 2013 at 1:58 PM

This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Reply

Anonymous June 6, 2013 at 3:58 PM

Very good explanation. :) Good work. Thanks a lot!

Reply

mukka teja July 14, 2013 at 9:02 PM

This comment has been removed by the author.
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mukka teja July 14, 2013 at 9:03 PM

Hello Sir !! here is a link ,the questions are based upon the setup ,hold times prop delays of the system as whole are to be found out .I am clear with
finding the setup and hold times as per the method you have said but I have some problem with this .Pl clarify this !
http://web.mit.edu/6.111/www/f2007/tutprobs/sequential.html

Reply

Anonymous July 27, 2013 at 10:52 PM

Hi
Capture clock period and its path delay together constitute required time of data at the input of capture register.
i didn't get this point clearly ..is the capture clock period and clock period same or its the delay of the capture clock path
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Replies

your VLSI November 26, 2013 at 2:09 PM

capture clock period == clock period of capture clock. Means there may be scenerion that there are multiple clocks and different clock are
driving the capture flipflop and launching FF. So that's the reason I have mentioned specifically "capture clock period "

Reply

Jayakirthi Reddy August 30, 2013 at 12:03 PM

This comment has been removed by the author.
Reply

Anonymous August 30, 2013 at 12:16 PM

Hi,
Thanks for the blog. It's very helpful. But i couldn't understand Multi Cycle Path. Can you update it with using some diagrams so that it can be
understood easily
Reply

Replies

your VLSI November 26, 2013 at 2:09 PM

I will try...

Reply
SH AR ES
Umadevi Ravindrachari November 7, 2013 at 6:59 PM
hello sir i need basis of static timing verification ....and concept of static timing analysis ....i need overview for about this concepts please upload as
soon as possible.......
Reply

Replies

your VLSI November 26, 2013 at 2:10 PM

Static Timing Analysis - related a lot of article already present. Please follow other parts of this series.

Reply

RAMESH SR November 26, 2013 at 12:55 PM

Hello sir,

A great work on STA is given as a nutshell.Thanks a lot.It would be appreciable if you could add details on Statistical Static Timing Analysis
(SSTA)also.
Reply

Replies

your VLSI November 26, 2013 at 2:10 PM

I will try but It will take some time

Reply

Ishani Chaudhary November 26, 2013 at 7:01 PM

I finally understood the mumbo jumbo of STA! Thank you so much! :)
Reply

Anonymous November 27, 2013 at 10:40 AM

well explained :-)
Reply

Anonymous November 30, 2013 at 10:26 AM

Hello Sir,
Thank you very much for ur efforts in explaining about STA.
I have a doubt in MCP example explanation were, you have stated
"However, if you have a signal in the 60MHz domain that indicates the phase of the 30MHz clock, you can design a circuit that allows for the full 33ns
for the clock crossing, then the path from flop30 -> to flop60 is a MCP (again with N=2)."

why is path between flop30 to flop60 MCP as the launching flop30 operates in slower clock it gives enough time to get sync with flop60 as the next
data from flop30 will be launched after two clock cycles at flop60. ( I am taking 30Mhz clock as main clock, as assumed by your statement).

So may be data from flop60 to flop 30 may take 2 cycles as flop60 as to keep its data stable for complete 2 cycles of its clock (60Mhz clk) to sync with
flop30.

Please let me know if I have understood something wrong.

Thanks
vijay
Reply

lava kumar March 12, 2014 at 11:28 AM

Sir, Thank you for this blog this is the first time i understood FALSE PATHS correctly
Reply

Anonymous April 15, 2014 at 9:11 PM

why setup time is large compared to hold time????can any one give me answer???
Reply

Replies

VlsiExpertGroup April 20, 2015 at 9:49 AM

Try to figure out once by taking the concept of master Slave flipflop. I think that will help you.

Reply

yogananda June 18, 2014 at 2:20 PM

hi sir can i get the related papers or pdfs.if so i will give email id
Reply

Anonymous December 30, 2014 at 5:00 PM

I wanted some illustrations or some problems to get perfection.. Can u share d links which provide this..
Thanks in advance
Reply
SH AR ES Anonymous April 7, 2015 at 3:15 PM
sir i need detailed explanation on critical path analysis
Reply

Replies

VlsiExpertGroup April 20, 2015 at 9:52 AM

Critical path Analysis is a very big topic. Actually It depends how you called a path Critical in your design. Path is critical because it's part of
clock path or there is congestion, or setup/holds are violating there.

So please let me know what exactly you want to know.

Reply

carlos May 10, 2015 at 3:49 AM

Hi, this is great tutorial, congrats!
I have a question: in the "what is a setup and hold time?" section you have a TpdDIN, this delay is the same than the data path timing?? that you
mentioned in previous sections, this TpdDIN delay is the cloud drawing logic that you have in your previous figures?
Thanks
Reply

Avinash Patil May 30, 2015 at 11:52 AM

This comment has been removed by the author.
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Anonymous September 14, 2015 at 6:24 AM

Sir, in your diagram, where you have flip flops UFF1 to UFF3.

What would happen if the clock period used were shorter than the maximum signal propagation time through the circuit?

Why do electrical signals take time to propagate through combinatorial logic?

Reply

Anonymous October 12, 2015 at 12:29 PM

Hello Sir ,
Can you please explain about Timing analysis with multiple clocks?
Reply

Anonymous October 16, 2015 at 3:08 PM

In data path start point,2nd statement should be data pin of ff/latch/memory .
am i correct

Reply

Anonymous January 21, 2016 at 1:46 AM

This is the most well-explained text I have found on STA yet. Very clear and consisely told. Thank you very much for your time and effort on writing this
article. As a Computer Engineering student this has helped me a lot with understanding this concept.
Reply

Suman Ghosh March 5, 2016 at 10:15 AM

Awesome stuff
Reply

rishi malhotra October 3, 2016 at 7:28 PM

in STA description its written that its advantage is that it performs timing analysis for all possible paths(whether real or false) but in false path
description its written that timing analysis is not done for false path?? im confused..can anyone plz clarify my doubt..
Reply

Replies

VLSI EXPERT October 4, 2016 at 12:02 PM

See.. STA can do analysis of any path.
But why do you want to do the analysis on false path ?? So we specify that we don't want to do analysis on false path. If you will do the
analysis don't make sense and if there are any violations - then you have to unnecessary waste your time to fix it.
So both statements are correct. :)

Reply

Unknown October 18, 2016 at 3:50 PM

sir do you have information about to solve problems on combinational circuits delays??
i want more no 0f problems and solutions to calculate max frequency in both combinational and sequential circuits
plz help me sir
Reply

Priyangi April 5, 2017 at 10:41 PM

SH AR ES Hi Expert,
You have done a f=great job..!! Your blog has helped a lot in my interview preparation. But the MCP topic, can you please explain it in more detail, as I
am having difficulty in understanding it, esp the 30MHz and 60MHz example.
Reply

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slither io June 28, 2017 at 2:49 PM

Very good, I think I found the knowledge I needed. I will see and refer some information in your post. thank you.
Reply

karthik reganti October 28, 2017 at 11:51 AM

Hello sir,why hold time is less compare to setup time?
Reply

slither io December 15, 2017 at 1:35 PM

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