High Performance Clock Distribution Networks

A number of fundamental topics in the field of high performance clock distribution networks is covered in this book. High Performance Clock Distribution Networks is composed of ten contributions from authors at academic and industrial institutions. Topically, these contributions can be grouped within three primary areas. The first topic area deals with exploiting the localized nature of clock skew. The second topic area deals with the implementation of these clock distribution networks, while the third topic area considers more long-range aspects of next-generation clock distribution networks. High Performance Clock Distribution Networks presents a number of interesting strategies for designing and building high performance clock distribution networks. Many aspects of the ideas presented in these contributions are being developed and applied today in next-generation high-performance microprocessors.

High-Speed Clock Network Design is a collection of design concepts, techniques and research works from the author for clock distribution in microprocessors and high-performance chips. It is organized in 11 chapters.

Improve the performance and reliability of synchronous digital integrated circuits with this anthology of key literature on the design and analysis of clock distribution networks for VLSI based computer and signal processing systems. Beginning with an extensive tutorial overview and bibliography, this all in one source offers substantive coverage of the most relevant issues related to the design of clock distribution networks for application to high performance synchronous design. Related topics include clock skew; automated layout of clock nets; distributed buffet and interconnect delays; clock distribution design of structured custom VLSI circuits; wafer scale integration; systolic arrays; globally asynchronous, locally synchronous systems; microwave issues; low power clocking techniques; process insensitive circuits; deterministic and probabilistic delay models; system timing specifications; clock distribution networks of well known circuits and future research in clock distribution networks. The material presented in Clock Distribution Networks in VLSI Circuits and Systems will be valuable to anyone with an interest in synchronous integrated circuits, computer design, or signal processing implementation issues.

Provides the only up-to-date source on the most recent advances in this often complex and fascinating topic. The only book to be entirely devoted to clocking Clocking has become one of the most important topics in the field of digital system design A "must have" book for advanced circuit engineers

With the advancement of nanometer scale processes in CMOS technologies, the demand for high performance VLSI systems continues to grow exponentially. The performance of a microprocessor is influenced by its clock distribution network. Clock skew penalizes the overall performance of the system. The task of minimizing clock skew in clock distribution networks continues to be critical in high speed circuits to maximize system performance. The objective of this research is to design a low skew clock distribution network by inserting Delay-Locked Loops with buffers along different clock paths of the clock distribution network. The delay-locked loops use delay lines which produce significantly lower skew and jitter than phase-locked loops. Clock skew can be reduced by employing DLLs in several appropriate places of the clock distribution network. The approach of distributing DLLs in a clock distribution network requires additional area but greatly improves the performance of VLSI systems.

The appropriate interconnect model has changed several times over the past two decades due to the application of aggressive technology scaling. New, more accurate interconnect models are required to manage the changing physical characteristics of integrated circuits. Currently, RC models are used to analyze high resistance nets while capacitive models are used for less resistive interconnect. However, on-chip inductance is becoming more important with integrated circuits operating at higher frequencies, since the inductive impedance is proportional to the frequency. The operating frequencies of integrated circuits have increased dramatically over the past decade and are expected to maintain the same rate of increase over the next decade, approaching 10 GHz by the year 2012. Also, wide wires are frequently encountered in important global nets, such as clock distribution networks and in upper metal layers, and performance requirements are pushing the introduction of new materials for low resistance interconnect, such as copper interconnect already used in many commercial CMOS technologies. On-Chip Inductance in High Speed Integrated Circuits deals with the design and analysis of integrated circuits with a specific focus on on-chip inductance effects. It has been described throughout this book that inductance can have a tangible effect on current high speed integrated circuits. For example, neglecting inductance and using an RC interconnect model in a production 0.25 mum CMOS technology can cause large errors (over 35%) in estimates of the propagation delay of on-chip interconnect. It has also been shown that including inductance in the repeater insertion design process as compared to using an RC model improves the overall repeater solution in terms of area, power, and delay with average savings of 40.8%, 15.6%, and 6.7%, respectively. On-Chip Inductance in High Speed Integrated Circuits is full of design and analysis techniques for RLC interconnect. These techniques are compared to techniques traditionally used for RC interconnect design to emphasize the effect of inductance. emOn-Chip Inductance in High Speed Integrated Circuits will be of interest to researchers in the area of high frequency interconnect, noise, and high performance integrated circuit design.

Distributing power in high speed, high complexity integrated circuits has become a challenging task as power levels exceeding tens of watts have become commonplace while the power supply is plunging toward one volt. This book is dedicated to this important subject. The primary purpose of this monograph is to provide insight and intuition into the behavior and design of power distribution systems for high speed, high complexity integrated circuits.