"Timing Paths" : Static Timing Analysis (STA) basic

(Part 1)
vlsi-expert.com/2011/03/static-timing-analysis-sta-basic-timing.html

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.

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 less manual. So that we are
not discussing right now.

1/12
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 on.Static Timing analysis is
divided into several parts as per the above mentioned list.

Static Timing Analysis:

Static timing analysis is a method of validating the timing performance of a design by

checking all possible paths for timing violations under worst-case conditions. It considers
the worst possible delay through each logic element, but not the logical operation of the
circuit.

In comparison to circuit simulation, static timing analysis is

Faster - It is faster because it does not need to simulate multiple test vectors.
More Thorough - It is more thorough because it checks the worst-case timing for all
possible logic conditions, not just those sensitized by a particular set of test vectors.

Once again Note this thing : Static timing analysis checks the design only for proper
timing, not for correct logical functionality.

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 edge arrives, under all
possible conditions?”

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 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 advantage of STA is that it performs timing analysis on all
possible paths (whether they are real or potential false paths).
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 majority of chip design is
synchronous, it has become a mainstay of chip design over the last few decades.

The Way STA is performed on a given Circuit:

To check a design for violations or say to perform STA there are 3 main steps:

Design is broken down into sets of timing paths,

Calculates the signal propagation delay along each path
And checks for violations of timing constraints inside the design and at the
input/output interface.

The STA tool analyzes ALL paths from each and every startpoint to each and every
endpoint and compares it against the constraint that (should) 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 characteristics of the primary inputs and outputs of the circuit.

2/12
Before we start all this we should know few key concepts in STA method: timing path,
arrive time, required time, slack and critical path.
Let's Talk about these one by one in detail. In this Blog we will mainly Focus over
Different Types of Timing Paths.

Timing Paths:

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

Types of Paths for Timing analysis:

Data Path
Clock Path
Clock Gating Path
Asynchronous Path

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 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 the path and then captured at the endpoint by another
clock edge.

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 analysis report and fixing
the timing violation.

Data path
Start Point
Input port of the design (because the input data can be launched from
some external source).
Clock pin of the flip-flop/latch/memory (sequential cell)
End Point
Data input pin of the flip-flop/latch/memory (sequential cell)
Output port of the design (because the output data can be captured by
some external sink)
Clock Path
Start Point
Clock input port
End Point
Clock pin of the flip-flop/latch/memory (sequential cell)
Clock Gating Path
Start Point
Input port of the design
End Point
Input port of clock-gating element.
Asynchronous path
Start Point

3/12
 Input Port of the design
End Point
Set/Reset/Clear pin of the flip-flop/latch/memory (sequential cell)

Data Paths:

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 of Start and End point.
Input pin/port to Register(flip-flop).
Input pin/port to Output pin/port.
Register (flip-flop) to Register (flip-flop)
Register (flip-flop) to Output pin/port

Please see the following fig:

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

4/12
 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.

5/12
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 of 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)

6/12
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.

7/12
 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).

8/12
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:

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.

9/12
 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.

10/12
 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 and 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.

11/12
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.

12/12