Self-Timed Circuitry for Global Clocking

We present an apparatus used to distribute a timing reference or clock across the extent of a digital system. Selftimed circuitry both generates and distributes a clock signal, while using less power and less skew compared to a clock tree. HSpice simulations in a 180nm CMOS process comparing the Distributed Clock Generator presented in this paper and an H-tree clock distribution system, each clocking a 16mm × 16mm area suggests a 30% power savings. Also worst case skew was reduced from 27ps to 2ps while using a clock period equivalent to 9 FO4 gates.

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2005
• Where: ASYNC
• Authors: Scott Fairbanks, Simon W. Moore
• Keywords: ASYNC 2005, Clock, Clock Distribution System, Clock Signal, Hardware