EE434: ASIC and Digital Systems

1. EE434: ASIC and Digital Systems Midterm Review 1 Jacob Murray School of EECS, WSU jmurray@eecs.wsu.edu

2. Structure of the Exam • Four problems with multiple parts • All topics will be almost equally represented • Will look similar to layout of sample exam

3. Overview • Circuit Design Methodologies • Implementation Techniques • RTL Design and Synthesis

4. Circuit Design Methodology • Static CMOS • Pseudo NMOS • Pass-transistor • Transmission Gate • Domino Logic

5. Gate Capacitance Cut-off Resistive Saturation

6. CL CL CL CL Threshold Drops VDD VDD PUN S D VDD D S 0  VDD 0  VDD - VTn VGS PDN VDD 0 VDD |VTp| VGS D S VDD S D

7. B A C D Complex CMOS Gate OUT = D + A • (B + C) A D B C

8. Constructing a Complex Gate

9. Basic CMOS Gate Sizing NAND and NOR gate sizing

10. Issues with Pass Transistor Logic Threshold drop Capacitive feed through Charge sharing

11. NMOS Only Logic: Level Restoring Transistor V DD V DD Level Restorer M r B M 2 X M Out A n M 1 • Advantage: Full Swing • Restorer adds capacitance, takes away pull down current at X • Ratio problem

12. Complementary Pass Transistor Logic

13. Transmission Gate C C A A B B C C C = 2.5 V A = 2.5 V B C L C = 0 V

14. Pass-Transistor Based Multiplexer • The control signal S turns the transfer gates on and off depending on its value. • When S=1, the upper transfer gate is on and output follows • When S=0, the lower transfer gate is on and output follows • Exercise: Implement the Multiplexer with static CMOS and compare with this

15. Clk Mp ((AB)+C) Out CL A C B Clk Me Dynamic Gate on Clk Mp off 1 Out In1 In2 PDN In3 Clk Me off on Two phase operation Precharge (Clk = 0) Evaluate (Clk = 1)

16. Conditions on Output Once the output of a dynamic gate is discharged, it cannot be charged again until the next precharge operation. Inputs to the gate can make at most one transition during evaluation. Output can be in the high impedance state during and after evaluation (PDN off), state is stored on CL This behavior is fundamentally different than the static counterpart that always has a low resistance path between the output and one of the power rails.

17. Properties of Dynamic Gates • Logic function is implemented by the PDN only • number of transistors is N + 2 (versus 2N for static complementary CMOS) • Full swing outputs • Non-ratioed - sizing of the devices does not affect the logic levels • Faster switching speeds • reduced load capacitance due to lower input capacitance (Cin) • reduced load capacitance due to smaller output loading (Cout)

18. Properties of Dynamic Gates • Overall power dissipation usually higher than static CMOS • no static current path ever exists between VDD and GND • no glitching • higher transition probabilities • extra load on Clk • Needs a precharge/evaluate clock

19. CL Issues in Dynamic Design 1: Charge Leakage CLK Clk Mp Out A Evaluate VOut Clk Me Precharge Leakage sources Leakage sources are reverse-biased diode and the sub-threshold leakage of the NMOS pull down device.

20. CL Solution to Charge Leakage Keeper Clk Mp Mkp A Out B Clk Me Same approach as level restorer for pass-transistor logic During precharge, Out is VDD and inverter out is GND, so keeper is on

21. CL CA CB Issues in Dynamic Design 2: Charge Sharing • Initially, CA discharged and CL fully charged • Charge stored originally on CL is redistributed (shared) over CL and CA leading to reduced robustness Clk Mp Out A B=0 Clk Me

22. Solution to Charge Redistribution Clk Clk Mp Mkp Out A B Clk Me Precharge internal nodes using a clock-driven transistor (at the cost of increased area and power)

23. CL Issues in Dynamic Design 3: Clock Feedthrough (Charge Injection) Coupling between Out and Clk input of the precharge device due to the gate to drain capacitance. So voltage of Out can rise above VDD. The fast rising (and falling edges) of the clock couple to Out. Clk Mp Out A B Clk Me

24. Clock Feedthrough Clock feedthrough Clk Out In1 In2 In3 In & Clk Voltage In4 Out Clk Time, ns Clock feedthrough

25. Clk In VTn Out1 V Out2 Cascading Dynamic Gates V Clk Clk Mp Mp Out2 Out1 In Clk Clk Me Me t Only 0  1 transitions allowed at inputs!

26. Cascading Dynamic Gates Out2 should remain at VDD since Out1 transitions to 0 during evaluation. However, since there is a finite propagation delay for the input to discharge Out1 to GND, the second output also starts to discharge. The second dynamic inverter turns off (PDN) when Out1 reaches VTn. Setting all inputs of the second gate to 0 during precharge will fix it. Correct operation is guaranteed (ignoring charge redistribution and leakage) as long as the inputs can only make a single 0 → 1 transition during the evaluation period

27. Domino Logic Clk Mp Mkp Clk Mp Out1 Out2 1  1 1  0 0  0 0  1 In1 In4 PDN In2 PDN In5 In3 Clk Me Clk Me Ensures all inputs to the Domino gate are set to 0 at the end of the precharge period. Hence, the only possible transition during evaluation is 0 → 1

28. Ini Ini Ini Ini PDN PDN PDN PDN Inj Inj Inj Inj Why Domino? Clk Clk Like falling dominos!

29. Properties of Domino Logic • Only non-inverting logic can be implemented • Very high speed • static inverter can be skewed, only 0 → 1 transition • Input capacitance reduced

30. Differential (Dual Rail) Domino off on Clk Clk Mp Mkp Mkp Mp Out = AB Out = AB 1 0 1 0 A !A !B B Clk Me Solves the problem of non-inverting logic

31. Sequential Circuits • Difference between latch and flip-flops • Design of latches and flip-flops using transmission gates • Different Design trade-offs • Role of non-overlapping clocks

32. Timing Definitions CLK Register t D Q t t su hold D DATA CLK STABLE t t c q 2 Q DATA STABLE t

33. Storage Mechanisms Static Dynamic CLK D Q CLK Needs a positive feedback loop to hold the data Holds data by storing charge on capacitance

34. Implementation Methodology • Different digital circuit design methodologies • Custom, semi-custom, array-based • Characteristics of CPLDs and FPGAs • Implementation of logic functions using MUX and LUTs • Hard and Soft Macro

35. I I I I I I 5 4 3 2 1 0 Programmable I I I I 3 2 1 0 I I I I I I OR array 5 4 3 2 1 0 Fixed AND array O O O O O 3 2 1 0 O 0 0 Indicates programmable connection Indicates fixed connection Array-Based Programmable Logic Programmable OR array Fixed OR array Programmable AND array Programmable AND array O O O O O O 3 2 1 3 2 1 PLA PROM PAL

36. Implementing functions with PLA

37. 1 X X X 2 1 0 : programmed node NA NA f f 1 0 Programming a PROM

38. Configuration A B S F= 0 0 0 0 0 X 1 X 0 Y 1 Y 0 Y X XY X 0 Y XY Y 0 X XY Y 1 X X Y + 1 0 X X 1 0 Y Y 1 1 1 1 2-input MUX as programmable logic block A 0 F B 1 S

39. Two-input LUT

40. Elmore Delay

41. Delay of a wire

42. Clock Design Issues

43. Reducing Power in Clocking Signal 1 clock Signal 2 shield clock shield • Gated Clocks: • can gate clock signals through AND gate before applying to flip-flop; this is more of a total chip power savings • all clock trees should have the same type of gating whether they are used or not, and at the same level - total balance • Reduce overall capacitance (again, shielding vs. spacing) (a) higher total cap./less area (b) lower cap./ more area • Tradeoff between the two approaches due to coupling noise • approach (a) is better for inductive noise; (b) is better for capacitive noise

44. VHDL • You will NOT need to write any long complicated code • You should be able to write small pieces of VHDL • Understand common coding mistakes • Understand process and sensitivity list • Be able to detect limitations in a block of code