Fixing Setup and Hold Violation : Static Timing Analysis (STA) Basic ( Part 6c)

How To Solve Setup and Hold Violation.. continue...

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

Static Timing analysis is divided into several parts:

• Part1 -> Timing Paths
• Part2 -> Time Borrowing
• Part3a -> Basic Concept Of Setup and Hold
• Part3b -> Basic Concept of Setup and Hold Violation
• Part3c -> Practical Examples for Setup and Hold Time / Violation
• Part4a -> Delay - Timing Path Delay
• Part4b -> Delay - Interconnect Delay Models
• Part4c -> Delay - Wire Load Model
• Part5a -> Maximum Clock Frequency
• Part5b -> Examples to calculate the “Maximum Clock Frequency” for different circuits.
• Part 6a -> How to solve Setup and Hold Violation (basic example)
• Part 6b -> Continue of  How to solve Setup and Hold Violation (Advance examples)
• Part 6c ->  Continue of  How to solve Setup and Hold Violation (more advance examples)
• 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)
• 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.

In the last part/post we have discussed 2 more examples with different specifications with more restrictions (Both net delay and Tck2Q were ideal means 0ns) and figure out that if you want to fix the violation by increasing/decreasing the delay in the data path then following condition should be satisfied.

Min delay of Combinational path > Hold time of Capture FF.

Max delay of Combinational path < Clock Period - Setup time of Capture FF.

Clock Period >= Setup time + Hold time.

But in case if you can’t touch the data path and you have to increase/decrease the delay in the clock path (means between “Clk pin to Launch FF clock pin” Or between “Clk pin and capture FF clock pin”), then following conditions should satisfied.

Max Delay/ Setup Condition:

Td < Clk_Period + (T_capture - T_launch) – T_setup

Min Delay / Hold Condition:

Td >  (T_capture -  T_launch ) + T_hold

Where:

Td -> Combinational path delay (between the 2 FFs)

T_capture -> Delay of circuit present between “Clk pin and capture FF clock pin”

T_launch -> Delay of circuit present between “Clk pin to Launch FF clock pin”

In this post we will discuss few more examples with more restrictions.

Let’s consider the following figure common to all examples until unless it’s specified. 

Example 5:

Specification of the FF Circuit
Setup	Hold	Clock period	Tck2q delay	Net Delay	Combinational Logic Delay
3ns	2ns	10ns	0ns (Ideal)	0ns (Ideal)	11ns (can’t be further reduced)

 

On the basic of last post …let’s start with checking few conditions directly.

Clock Period Condition: (Satisfied)

Setup time +Hold time = 5ns

Clock period = 10ns

Clock Period > Setup time +Hold time (10> 5)

Min delay / Hold Condition:  (Satisfied)

Combinational Delay (11ns) > Hold time.

Means - NO HOLD VIOLATION

Max Delay / Setup Condition:

Combinational delay (11ns) Is Not Less Than “Clock period (10ns) – Setup (3ns)”

Means - SETUP VIOLATION.

Since adding delay in the data path is not going to fix this violation and we can’t reduce the combinational delay. So as we have discussed in our last post, we will try with Clock path.

From the last post, if T_capture is the delay of buffer which is inserted between the CLK and Capture’s FF and T_launch is the delay of buffer which is inserted between the CLK and Launch’s FF, then

Max Delay /Setup condition is :

Td < Clock Period + (T_capture - T_launch) – T_setup

=> 11ns < 10ns – 3ns + (T_capture - T_launch)

=> 11ns < 7ns + (T_capture - T_launch)

=> 4ns < (T_capture - T_launch)

Now we can choose any combination of T_capture and T_launch such that their difference should be less than 4ns.

Note: Remember in the design if you are fixing the violation by increasing or decreasing the delay in the Clock path then always prefer not to play too much with this path.

I never prefer to use T_launch in this case (For setup fixing, I ignore to use T_launch).

So let’s assume T_launch =0ns and T_capture = 5ns

Then

11ns < 7ns + 5ns means no Setup Violation.

Check once again the Hold condition.

Min delay / Hold Condition:

Td >  (T_capture -  T_launch ) + T_hold

=> 11ns > (T_capture -  T_launch ) + T_hold

=> 11ns > 5ns + 2ns

=> 11ns > 7ns – Means No Hold Violation.

Example 6:

Specification of the FF Circuit
Setup	Hold	Clock period	Tck2q delay	Net Delay	Combinational Logic Delay
3ns	5ns	10ns	0ns (Ideal)	0ns (Ideal)	2ns (can’t be further reduced and we can’t increase the delay in the data path by any methods)

Let’s check the conditions directly.

Clock Period Condition (Satisfied):

Setup time +Hold time = 8ns

Clock period = 10ns

Clock Period > Setup time +Hold time (10ns > 8ns )

Means we can fix violations, if there is any.

Max Delay/ Setup Condition (Satisfied):

Td < Clk_Period + (T_capture - T_launch) – T_setup

Combinational Delay = 2ns

There is no delay in the clock path till now, so T_capture=T_launch=0ns

=> Td (2ns) < Clk_period (10ns) + 0ns – T_setup (3ns)

=> 2ns < 7ns – Means NO SETUP Violations

Min Delay / Hold Condition (Not Satisfied):

Td >  (T_capture -  T_launch ) + T_hold

Combinational Delay = 2ns

There is no delay in the clock path till now, so T_capture=T_launch=0ns

=> Td (2ns) is not greater than 0ns + T_hold (5ns)

Means  HOLD VIOLATION

Since we can’t make change in the delay path, so we have to touch the clock path.

For Hold fixing -

=> Td > (T_capture -  T_launch ) + T_hold 

=> 2ns > (T_capture -  T_launch ) + 5ns

=> -3ns > (T_capture -  T_launch )

For Satisfying the above equation T_launch should have more value in comparison to T_capture.

We can choose any combination of T_capture and T_launch.

Note: Remember in the design if you are fixing the violation by increasing or decreasing the delay in the Clock path then always prefer not to play too much with this path.

I will never prefer to use T_capture in this case (For Hold fixing, I ignore to use T_capture).

So let’s assume T_capture =0ns and T_launch = 4ns

Then

T_launch + Td > 5ns (hold time)

=> 4ns +2ns > 5ns NO HOLD Violation.

Check once again the Setup Condition:

Td < Clock Period + (T_capture - T_launch) – T_setup

=> 2ns < 10ns + 0ns -4ns – 3ns

=> 2ns < 3ns Means No Setup Violation.

Note: (T_capture - T_launch) also known as CLOCK SKEW. I will explain this later in this blog. Right now, it’s Just for your info.

Example 7:

Specification of the FF Circuit
Setup	Hold	Clock period	Tck2q delay	Net Delay	Combinational Logic Delay
6ns	5ns	10ns	0ns (Ideal)	0ns (Ideal)	0.5ns

Note: this is the same example which we have discussed in the part-6a. Let’s check all the conditions one by one.

Clock Period Condition (Not Satisfied):

Setup time +Hold time = 11ns

Clock period = 10ns

Clock Period is not greater than Setup time +Hold time

Means we can’t fix violations, if there is any.

But still we will try once again with all other conditions, just to prove that above mention condition should be true for fixing the violations.

Max Delay/ Setup Condition (Satisfied):

Td < Clk_Period + (T_capture - T_launch) – T_setup

Combinational Delay = 0.5ns

There is no delay in the clock path till now, so T_capture=T_launch=0ns

=> Td (0.5ns) < Clk_period (10ns) + 0ns – T_setup (6ns)

=> 0.5ns < 4ns – Means NO SETUP Violations

Min Delay / Hold Condition (Not Satisfied):

Td >  (T_capture -  T_launch ) + T_hold

Combinational Delay = 0.5ns

There is no delay in the clock path till now, so T_capture=T_launch=0ns

=> Td (0.5ns) is not greater than 0ns + T_hold (5ns)

Means  HOLD VIOLATION

If you want to fix the Hold violation, then we have already seen that by increasing/decreasing the delay in the data path it can’t be fixed. Even if this will fixed, then Setup violation will occur.

Let’s Try with T_capture or T_launch. Means by adding delay in the clock circuit.

As per the above equations/conditions and corresponding values:

Max Delay/ Setup Condition :

Td < Clock Period + (T_capture - T_launch) – T_setup

=> Td < 10ns -6ns + (T_capture - T_launch)

=> Td < 4ns + (T_capture - T_launch)

Min Delay / Hold Condition:

Td >  (T_capture -  T_launch ) + T_hold

=> Td >  (T_capture -  T_launch ) + 5ns

Remember all 3 variable Td,T_capture,T_launch are positive number.

Possible values of (T_capture - T_launch) = +/-A  (where A is a positive number)

Case 1:  (T_capture - T_launch) = +A

=> Td < 4ns+A - Condition (a)

=> Td> 5ns+A – Condition (b)

Satisfying both the conditions (“a” and “b” ) not possible for any +ive value of A.

Case 1:  (T_capture - T_launch) = -A

=> Td< 4ns-A => Td+A < 4ns - Condition (a)

=> Td> 5ns-A => Td +A > 5ns - Condition (a)

Satisfying both the conditions (“a” and “b”) not possible for any +ive value of A.

That means, I am successfully able to prove that if following condition is not satisfied then you can’t fix any type of violation by increasing/decreasing delay in either data_path or clock_path.

Clock Period > Setup time + Hold time.

Summary of this post:

Clock Period Condition:

Clock period > Setup time + Hold Time

For fixing any type of violation (without changing Clock period) - This condition should be satisfied.

Max Delay/ Setup Condition:

Td < Clk_Period + (T_capture - T_launch) – T_setup

For Fixing the Setup Violation – Always prefer T_capture over T_launch

Min Delay / Hold Condition:

Td >  (T_capture -  T_launch ) + T_hold

For Fixing the hold Violation – Always prefer T_launch over T_capture.

Till now we have discussed almost all the necessary basic of fixing the violation of Setup and Hold time. You have been noticed that everywhere I have talked about the increasing/decreasing the delay. If I have mentioned anywhere adding/removing the buffer, that also mean increasing/decreasing the delay.

There are several other ways through which you can increase/decreasing the delay of the circuit. In the next post we will discuss

• Different methods for increasing/decreasing the delay in a circuit/path.
• Also try to capture the basics behind above said methods one by one