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Messages from 16225

Article: 16225
Subject: Synchronizer design?
From: thor@sm.luth.se (Jonas Thor)
Date: Tue, 11 May 1999 05:11:09 GMT
Links: << >>  << T >>  << A >>
Hello,

My digital design books don't cover synchronizers in detail. So I am
asking here and hoping for feedback. Basically I have an asynchronous
input signal and I want to synchronize this to the FPGA clock. This
can of course be done by simply sampling the signal with an input
flip-flop and depending on the clock rate and the characteristic of
the flip-flop I can estimate a MTBF. But how do I reduce this MTBF by
designing synchronizer? I know I can cascade two flip-flops, but are
there other/better ways?

Btw, this just a general question and there is no specific
application.

Thanks!
Jonas Thor
Article: 16226
Subject: USB core design
From: wannarat <ksuwanna@kmitl.ac.th>
Date: Tue, 11 May 1999 12:39:15 +0700
Links: << >>  << T >>  << A >>
<!doctype html public "-//w3c//dtd html 4.0 transitional//en">
<html>
I want to design USB core, Could anyone help me to get USB data or specification
to design. And step to design core using VHDL.
<br>Please email me at kvocharo@kmitl.ac.th</html>

Article: 16227
Subject: Re: Synchronizer design?
From: Roland.Froehlich@t-online.de (Roland =?iso-8859-1?Q?Fr=F6hlich?=)
Date: Tue, 11 May 1999 08:05:54 +0200
Links: << >>  << T >>  << A >>
With PLDs I have builded years ago the following good working design:

Connect the input signal to a transparent latch with Latch-Enable= CLOCK.

When the CLOCK is high, the output follows immediatly the input signal.
After CLOCK is going low, the output of the latch is freezed and can not
change more, so the setup-time of the subsequent D-type register can be
satisfied.
If you design the transparent latch with gates, switch off the optimizer,
because
it is essential to use all redundant terms in the feedback path to avoid
glitches.
This device does not exhibit  metastability behavior at the expense of
loss of
maximal one takt cycle latency, and the input signal must be valid for
longer as
one takt cycle for secure detection.

Jonas Thor schrieb:

> Hello,
>
> My digital design books don't cover synchronizers in detail. So I am
> asking here and hoping for feedback. Basically I have an asynchronous
> input signal and I want to synchronize this to the FPGA clock. This
> can of course be done by simply sampling the signal with an input
> flip-flop and depending on the clock rate and the characteristic of
> the flip-flop I can estimate a MTBF. But how do I reduce this MTBF by
> designing synchronizer? I know I can cascade two flip-flops, but are
> there other/better ways?
>
> Btw, this just a general question and there is no specific
> application.
>
> Thanks!
> Jonas Thor

Article: 16228
Subject: Re: Synchronizer design?
From: Markus Michel <mmichel@kius.ch>
Date: Tue, 11 May 1999 09:56:50 +0200
Links: << >>  << T >>  << A >>


Jonas Thor wrote:

> Hello,
>
> My digital design books don't cover synchronizers in detail. So I am
> asking here and hoping for feedback. Basically I have an asynchronous
> input signal and I want to synchronize this to the FPGA clock. This
> can of course be done by simply sampling the signal with an input
> flip-flop and depending on the clock rate and the characteristic of
> the flip-flop I can estimate a MTBF. But how do I reduce this MTBF by
> designing synchronizer? I know I can cascade two flip-flops, but are
> there other/better ways?
>

No, not at all!

> Btw, this just a general question and there is no specific
> application.
>
> Thanks!
> Jonas Thor



Article: 16229
Subject: Re: Counters
From: Peter =?iso-8859-1?Q?S=F8rensen?= <ps@emi.dtu.dk>
Date: Tue, 11 May 1999 12:23:50 +0200
Links: << >>  << T >>  << A >>
What do you mean by large?
In many FPGA's you can relative fast counters by using carry logic chains up to
say 32 bits. But you must enable the carry logic in both the synthesis and
sometimes also the palce and route tool. If you need very big counters like say 64
bits you need special code as carry chains of this length is not alloved by
standard settings and may give too much trouble in routing.
Make a small counter of 2-4 bits and use MSB Q output as enable for the remaining
bits. I have some old code somewhere if this is not enough send me a mail.

Hi Peter


"C. Michele Rogers" wrote:

> Hi everyone,
>
> Can Synplicity and Leonardo automatically optimize large binary counters to be
> fast? Or do I have to recode them?
>
> Any help will be highly appreciated.
>
> Thanks
> Michele

Article: 16230
Subject: Re: Reciprocator in VHDL
From: satish_me@hotmail.com
Date: Tue, 11 May 1999 13:10:27 GMT
Links: << >>  << T >>  << A >>
HELO SIR,
The input a single byte(8-bits). Out put should be of 15 bits. Later I
will normalize to standard form. The data input rate is in one clock 1
byte has to enter the reciprocator, In the other clock the reciprocal
has to come out.
Satish Kumar.
In article <3730482D.6C7CAD88@ids.net>,
  Ray Andraka <randraka@ids.net> wrote:
> How many bits accuracy do you need?, what is bit width of the input
and output?.
> What is the required data rate and the available clocks (ie. how many
clocks are
> allowed to do this).   These parameters will greatly affect the
implementation.
>
> satish_me@hotmail.com wrote:
>
> > Hai,
> >  I am research fellow from India. For one of my VHDL project I need
a
> > reciprocator. Like If I give Input 10, The out put should be 1/10
that is 0.1,
> > For 3 it should be 0.33. For this I need a VHDL code, or implemented
FPGA.
> > This should be true for all numbers.
> > Any suggestion or code is highly appreciable. Thanks in advance.
> > Please communicate to my email:satish_me@hotmail.com
> >
> > -----------== Posted via Deja News, The Discussion Network
==----------
> > http://www.dejanews.com/       Search, Read, Discuss, or Start Your
Own
>
> --
> -Ray Andraka, P.E.
> President, the Andraka Consulting Group, Inc.
> 401/884-7930     Fax 401/884-7950
> email randraka@ids.net
> http://users.ids.net/~randraka
>
>


--== Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/ ==--
---Share what you know. Learn what you don't.---
Article: 16231
Subject: Virtual fabs ...
From: frouatbi@my-dejanews.com
Date: Tue, 11 May 1999 13:52:01 GMT
Links: << >>  << T >>  << A >>



I read lately in business week that there's virtual chip fabs.
Anybody know about their web site.

I used to work on asic, but the size of my designs are constant.
I mean they don't increase in complexity, or don't keep up
with the rate of FPGA PLD capacities.

Currently I do  FPGA's, its a lot more flexible in design,
where you can re-program the FPGA. And no NRE charges.

But I'm still curious about ASICs and Analog design ? any body knows
about the virtual fabs ? can you point me to them ?


--== Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/ ==--
---Share what you know. Learn what you don't.---
Article: 16232
Subject: Re: BGA Prototyping ?
From: Brian Boorman <XZY.bboorman@harris.com>
Date: Tue, 11 May 1999 10:09:25 -0400
Links: << >>  << T >>  << A >>
What we have done here is to put a via next to each BGA pad (see
drawing). It does need to be tented though.


    O    O    O    O
     \o   \o   \o   \o

    O    O    O    O
     \o   \o   \o   \o 

etc, etc.

You then don't have to worry about solder wicking and you get your probe
points.

Martin Whitaker wrote:
> When we first came to make a board with a BGA device, the sub-contracter
> who manufactures our boards suggested that we put a via under every pad.
> Apparently, providing the via has a very small diameter (I think < 25
> thou was specified), there is no problem with solder being sucked into
> the via.

<snip> 
> Admittedly we haven't manufactured many of these boards, but we haven't
> seen any other problems with the BGA devices. I would be inclined to
> keep the holes for production unless there was any evidence that they
> were reducing reliability - the ability to rework the occasional bad
> joint is well worth having.
> 
> Martin

-- 
Brian C. Boorman
Harris RF Communications
Rochester, NY 14610
XYZ.bboorman@harris.com
<Remove the XYZ. for valid address>
Article: 16233
Subject: Re: Need Altera 10k Prototype bd
From: "Steven K. Knapp" <sknapp@optimagic.com>
Date: Tue, 11 May 1999 07:26:51 -0700
Links: << >>  << T >>  << A >>
You can find a list of available FPGA boards on the Programmable Logic Jump
Station at http://www.optimagic.com/boards.html.

-----------------------------------------------------------
Steven K. Knapp
OptiMagic, Inc. -- "Great Designs Happen 'OptiMagic'-ally"
E-mail:  sknapp@optimagic.com
   Web:  http://www.optimagic.com
-----------------------------------------------------------

Carl Martin wrote in message <926356074.143.100@news.remarQ.com>...
>Looking for a 10k Altera prototype board with a
>pc104 or PC-isa or PC-pci interface on one side
>and maximum number of io pins on the other side.
>
>Found one from Nova engineering www.nova-eng.com
>are there others
>
>
>Thanks
>Carl R. Martin
>cmart@hypercon.com
>
>
>


Article: 16234
Subject: Re: Spartan Metastability parameters
From: Todd Kline <todd@wgate.com>
Date: Tue, 11 May 1999 14:53:29 GMT
Links: << >>  << T >>  << A >>
That would be very interested!  I have used the Xilinx metasability numbers on
several communication applications in the past.  While the majority of people may
not need the metastability time constant and other information about a specific
part or process, for those of us who need it, it is absolutely critical.  Try
building a tap-delay-line based clock recovery or beating two clocks against each
other (with a 4KHz frequency difference) without knowing the metastability
parameters of the FPGA you are using and one will not sleep well at night.

Peter Alfke wrote:

> Nice to hear that somebody is interested.
>
> Peter Alfke, Xilinx Applications
>

Article: 16235
Subject: Re: Synopsys DC & Modelsim
From: Todd Kline <todd@wgate.com>
Date: Tue, 11 May 1999 15:11:22 GMT
Links: << >>  << T >>  << A >>
The only SDF based problem I have had with Modelsim was with Verilog
models.  Verilog-XL has extended features which are not supported in
Modelsim.  I have never had a problem with VHDL models.

Since you are not sure about you SDF file generation, are you using the
-c VHDL and -f sdf-v2.1 switches?

You could also try the ESNUG mailing list.  Mail a request to be added
to the mailing list to jcooley@world.std.com.

Article: 16236
Subject: Re: Synchronizer design?
From: Todd Kline <todd@wgate.com>
Date: Tue, 11 May 1999 15:20:43 GMT
Links: << >>  << T >>  << A >>
I've actually seen some criticism about multi-level synchronizers not
providing the benefit predicted by the math, but until somebody comes up
with something better or ASIC and FPGA vendors start implementing
metastable hardened FF's, I'm keeping this particular hammer in my toolbox.

Article: 16237
Subject: Re: Synchronizer design?
From: "Jamie Sanderson" <jamie@nortelnetworks.com>
Date: Tue, 11 May 1999 11:29:24 -0400
Links: << >>  << T >>  << A >>
More often than not, I use the method you've described. Did you read the
same TI document on metastability I did? If you really want something that
is bullet-proof and have gates to spare, you can add a "majority logic"
circuit.

Add one or two stages to your flip-flop chain, bring it to three or four.
Then take all of the outputs to two logic functions, one which causes the
output to be high only when all flip-flop outputs are high, and one which
causes the output to be low only when all flip-flop outputs are low. That
output signal can also be run through a final flip-flop.

It slows your signal down considerably, but acts like a low-pass filter.

Cheers,
Jamie

Jonas Thor wrote in message <3737b8af.23247503@news1.tninet.se>...
>Hello,
>
>My digital design books don't cover synchronizers in detail. So I am
>asking here and hoping for feedback. Basically I have an asynchronous
>input signal and I want to synchronize this to the FPGA clock. This
>can of course be done by simply sampling the signal with an input
>flip-flop and depending on the clock rate and the characteristic of
>the flip-flop I can estimate a MTBF. But how do I reduce this MTBF by
>designing synchronizer? I know I can cascade two flip-flops, but are
>there other/better ways?
>
>Btw, this just a general question and there is no specific
>application.
>
>Thanks!
>Jonas Thor


Article: 16238
Subject: Re: Synchronizer design?
From: Peter Alfke <peter@xilinx.com>
Date: Tue, 11 May 1999 08:45:00 -0700
Links: << >>  << T >>  << A >>
Roland Fröhlich wrote:

> With PLDs I have builded years ago the following good working design:
>
> Connect the input signal to a transparent latch with Latch-Enable= CLOCK.
>
> When the CLOCK is high, the output follows immediatly the input signal.
> After CLOCK is going low, the output of the latch is freezed and can not
> change more, so the setup-time of the subsequent D-type register can be
> satisfied.
> If you design the transparent latch with gates, switch off the optimizer,
> because
> it is essential to use all redundant terms in the feedback path to avoid
> glitches.
> This device does not exhibit  metastability behavior at the expense of
> loss of
> maximal one takt cycle latency, and the input signal must be valid for
> longer as
> one takt cycle for secure detection.
>  

Sorry Roland, but you are wrong.

A latch is equally as vulnerable to metastable delays as a flip-flop. Actually,
it is the master latch in the flip-flop that goes metastable.
When the data input changes right at the moment when you stop the latch from
being transparent, you get the same unpredictable metastable delay as you get in
a flip-flop.

There is no way ( NO WAY ! ) to avoid metastability, but modern circuits resolve
it so fast that metastability is no longer the same scary subject it was ten
years ago.

Peter Alfke, Xilinx Applications
 

Article: 16239
Subject: Free FPGA Design Workshop
From: mike@rtp-nc.mentorg.com (Mike Walsh)
Date: 11 May 1999 16:54:58 GMT
Links: << >>  << T >>  << A >>

Mentor Graphics is pleased to offer Top Down Hands On workshops in
several cities in the Southeast United States.  These workshops allow
the attendee to spend some hands on time with Renoir, ModelSim, and
LeonardoSpectrum, Mentor Graphics integrated FPGA design flow.

Workshops are being offered in Deerfield (Ft. Lauderdale are), Florida
on May 12th and in Raleigh, NC on May 18th.  If you would like more
information, check out the detailed information on Mentor's web site
at:  http://www.mentor.com/region/SE/Workshops/index.html

-- 
...Mike

No Guts, No Glory.

+--------------------------------------------------------------+
| Michael P. Walsh                     mike@rtp-nc.mentorg.com |
|                                       mike_walsh@mentorg.com |
| Applications Engineering Manager                             |
| Mentor Graphics Corporation                 V:(919) 484-2505 |
| 2525 Meridian Parkway, Suite 260            F:(919) 544-0701 |
| Research Triangle Park, North Carolina 27713                 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------+


Article: 16240
Subject: Re: Need Altera 10k Prototype bd
From: "Michael Ayton" <aytonm@mtifwb.com>
Date: Tue, 11 May 1999 10:09:42 -0700
Links: << >>  << T >>  << A >>
You can always have one made with your exact specifications...  there are
many companies that would do this
for you for around 1500.00 to 2000.00 range...  me for instance :)




Carl Martin <cmart@concom.com> wrote in message
news:926356074.143.100@news.remarQ.com...
> Looking for a 10k Altera prototype board with a
> pc104 or PC-isa or PC-pci interface on one side
> and maximum number of io pins on the other side.
>
> Found one from Nova engineering www.nova-eng.com
> are there others
>
>
> Thanks
> Carl R. Martin
> cmart@hypercon.com
>
>
>


Article: 16241
Subject: Re: Synchronizer design?
From: Bob Sugar <bobs@sitera.com>
Date: Tue, 11 May 1999 11:56:51 -0600
Links: << >>  << T >>  << A >>
Peter Alfke wrote:
> There is no way ( NO WAY ! ) to avoid metastability, but modern circuits resolve
> it so fast that metastability is no longer the same scary subject it was ten
> years ago.
> 
> Peter Alfke, Xilinx Applications

I haven't looked at metastability time constants in a couple years,
but it used to be that every generation of technology had better
and better numbers but this was offset by the higher and higher
operating speeds.  Sure, if you take a 10-year old design and run
it at the 10-year old clock rate on a state-of-the-art process, you'll
[almost] never need to worry about metastability but with today's
0.25um processes at 200+ MHz, 5ns isn't much time for metastability
to resolve.

For Xilinx, do you know if the metastability constants have surpassed
the peak operating speeds in the last few generations?

Bob Sugar
SiTera Inc.

P.S. Peter, are you the app's engineer who wrote the awesome video
capture app. note for MMI many years ago?
Article: 16242
Subject: Re: Synchronizer design?
From: Peter Alfke <peter@xilinx.com>
Date: Tue, 11 May 1999 12:00:20 -0700
Links: << >>  << T >>  << A >>

--------------FFE655841CCD2659E17A4FDF
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; x-mac-type="54455854"; x-mac-creator="4D4F5353"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

Jamie Sanderson wrote:

> More often than not, I use the method you've described. Did you read the
> same TI document on metastability I did? If you really want something that
> is bullet-proof and have gates to spare, you can add a "majority logic"
> circuit.
>
> Add one or two stages to your flip-flop chain, bring it to three or four.
> Then take all of the outputs to two logic functions, one which causes the
> output to be high only when all flip-flop outputs are high, and one which
> causes the output to be low only when all flip-flop outputs are low. That
> output signal can also be run through a final flip-flop.
>
> It slows your signal down considerably, but acts like a low-pass filter.

Before everybody cascades three or four flip-flops, and degrades system
performance, it might be wiser to look at the statistical data, as published by
various manufacturers.
For normal designs using modern circuits, clock rates below 50 MHz and
asynchronous input rates below 10 MHz a single-stage synchronizer is fully
sufficient. For more aggressive clock and data rates, calculate the MTBF. You
might be pleasantly surprised how fast the metastable uncertainty resolves
itself.

For Xilinx FPGAs click on

http://www.xilinx.com/xapp/xapp094.pdf

Peter Alfke, Xilinx Applications

--------------FFE655841CCD2659E17A4FDF
Content-Type: text/html; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

<HTML>
<BODY BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF">
Jamie Sanderson wrote:
<BLOCKQUOTE TYPE=CITE>More often than not, I use the method you've described.
Did you read the
<BR>same TI document on metastability I did? If you really want something
that
<BR>is bullet-proof and have gates to spare, you can add a "majority logic"
<BR>circuit.

<P>Add one or two stages to your flip-flop chain, bring it to three or
four.
<BR>Then take all of the outputs to two logic functions, one which causes
the
<BR>output to be high only when all flip-flop outputs are high, and one
which
<BR>causes the output to be low only when all flip-flop outputs are low.
That
<BR>output signal can also be run through a final flip-flop.

<P>It slows your signal down considerably, but acts like a low-pass filter.</BLOCKQUOTE>
Before everybody cascades three or four flip-flops, and degrades system
performance, it might be wiser to look at the statistical data, as published
by various manufacturers.
<BR>For normal designs using modern circuits, clock rates below 50 MHz
and asynchronous input rates below 10 MHz a single-stage synchronizer is
fully sufficient. For more aggressive clock and data rates, calculate the
MTBF. You might be pleasantly surprised how fast the metastable uncertainty
resolves itself.

<P>For Xilinx FPGAs click on<U></U>

<P><U><A HREF="http://www.xilinx.com/xapp/xapp094.pdf">http://www.xilinx.com/xapp/xapp094.pdf</A></U>

<P>Peter Alfke, Xilinx Applications
</BODY>
</HTML>

--------------FFE655841CCD2659E17A4FDF--

Article: 16243
Subject: Formal Solutions for Static Verification: An ASIC and IC Design
From: Tom Jackson <tjackson@chrysalis.com>
Date: Tue, 11 May 1999 15:02:44 -0400
Links: << >>  << T >>  << A >>
Formal Solutions for Static Verification: An ASIC and IC Design
Verification
Seminar

Register at http://www.chrysalis.com/seminars.html

Verification is the critical path for complex ASICs and ICs. Formal
verification tools are the foundation of a static verification
methodology
that:

     Cuts verification time and cost and
     Increases verification coverage and quality.

Chrysalis technology integrates equivalence checking with model checking
and
the new Formal Design Rule Check tools to deliver the only complete
formal
solution.

This seminar will cover:

     Static Verification Methodology
          What it is and how it is evolving

     Formal Design Rule Checks
          How they automate functional verification of logic design
rules

     Formal Model Checking
          How it addresses block-level functional verification to reduce

simulation costs

     Formal Equivalence Checking
          How it replaces gate-level simulation to ensure accurate
implementation from synthesis and schematics to tapeout.

     Chrysalis Technology
          How it integrates formal tools to support static functional
verification

Dates and Locations:

     Tuesday, May 18th at the Westin Hotel
     Santa Clara, CA

     Wensday, May 19th at the Best Western Gateway Hotel
     Rockville, MD

     Tuesday, May 25th at the Radisson Heritage Hotel
     Chelmsford, MA

     Thursday, June 3rd at the Radisson Governors Inn
     Research Triangle Park, NC

Times:

      8:30 AM
             Continental Breakfest
      9:00 AM
             Welcome
      9:15 AM
             Formal Solutions for Static Verification
      11:00 AM
             Demonstration of Formal Solutions

Register at http://www.chrysalis.com/seminars.html
or call 978/436-9909.

--
-------------------------------------------------------
Tom Jackson
Director of Corporate Marketing
Chrysalis Symbolic Design, Inc.
101 Billerica Avenue, Bldg. 5
N. Billerica, Massachusetts 01862
ph: 978.436.9909
fax: 978.436.9697
email: tjackson@chrysalis.com


Article: 16244
Subject: UART Design
From: Dan Oomkes <Dan_Oomkes@avionics.bfg.com>
Date: Tue, 11 May 1999 15:09:16 -0400
Links: << >>  << T >>  << A >>
I am looking for a simple UART design (without all of the handshaking
features) in verilog for use in a Xilinx XCS20 device.  Does anybody
know where I could download a  free design?

Article: 16245
Subject: Re: UART Design
From: Steven Casselman <sc@vcc.com>
Date: Tue, 11 May 1999 15:00:11 -0700
Links: << >>  << T >>  << A >>


Dan Oomkes wrote:

> I am looking for a simple UART design (without all of the handshaking
> features) in verilog for use in a Xilinx XCS20 device.  Does anybody
> know where I could download a  free design?

look at

http://www.memecdesign.com/cdrom.htm
they have a 8250 macro plus 4 or 5 other
pieces of IP for $99.00 US


--
Steve Casselman, President
Virtual Computer Corporation
http://www.vcc.com


Article: 16246
Subject: Re: Synchronizer design?
From: Peter Alfke <peter@xilinx.com>
Date: Tue, 11 May 1999 18:07:44 -0700
Links: << >>  << T >>  << A >>
Bob Sugar wrote:

>  Sure, if you take a 10-year old design and run
> it at the 10-year old clock rate on a state-of-the-art process, you'll
> [almost] never need to worry about metastability but with today's
> 0.25um processes at 200+ MHz, 5ns isn't much time for metastability
> to resolve.
>
> For Xilinx, do you know if the metastability constants have surpassed
> the peak operating speeds in the last few generations?

I think the answer is yes, and the reason is that - same as in ASICs - overall
performance is more and more determind by interconnect delays ( which do not
contribute to metastability problems), and the flip-flop performance has
improved faster than the system performance.We will have new sets of
metastability numbers in a few weeks, and I will post them here.

Luckily, most asynchronous interfaces do not run at a 200 MHz clock rate.
Whenever they do, watch out!  Asynchronous interfaces are often between slower
peripherals running at inherently more modest rates, where metastability has
become less of an issue.

>  
>
> Bob Sugar
> SiTera Inc.
>
> P.S. Peter, are you the app's engineer who wrote the awesome video
> capture app. note for MMI many years ago?

No, I spent ten years at AMD, but was never at MMI.

Peter Alfke, Xilinx Applications
  

Article: 16247
Subject: Re: Spartan Metastability parameters
From: rk <stellare@erols.com.NOSPAM>
Date: Tue, 11 May 1999 21:29:32 -0400
Links: << >>  << T >>  << A >>
Peter Alfke wrote:

> I can only speak for Xilinx:
>
> Because hardly anybody asks for the data.

count me as one who asks for the data and has tested some stuff on his own.  all
manufacturers should publish this stuff ... some used to but have stopped.  and, in
my itty bitty opinion, it should be in the data sheet, not an application note
(although the app notes you published are appreciated, i just feel that
specifications and behavior of the device should be in the data sheet,
recommendations on how to use the device should be in the application notes).

so, i guess i'm a nobody.

---------------------------

> I published a fairly detailed explanation of metastability, test methodology,
> and results in the 1989 Xilinx data book, and repeated and improved it in all
> the seven or eight subsequent editions, ( look in the index!) but I have sensed
> very little interest.
> We are about to start a new series of tests, and I will publish the results
> again.
> Nice to hear that somebody is interested.

yeah, interested.  and perhaps those that aren't should be.

<rk goes back to his keyboard, wondering why he has a job that requires a lot of
writing when he can't write at all>

:-)

Article: 16248
Subject: Re: Synopsys DC & Modelsim
From: Kyungjin Jang <sandrose@phoenix.dwe.co.kr>
Date: Wed, 12 May 1999 10:48:33 +0900
Links: << >>  << T >>  << A >>
asap wrote:
> 
> Hi all,
> 
> I'm trying to do a post-synthesis
> simulation with Modelsim EE 5.2,
> using the VITAL lib of my ASIC vendor.
> I keep getting errors that some instances
> do not have one or two generics (e.g.: tpd_c_q_posedge).
> (I do not have errors of missing instances...)
> I don't think there is any error on the top instance
> I apply the sdf file, nor similar things...
> However, I don't know if i produce wrongly the sdf/vhdl files
> from Synopsys DC v1999.05 (I use the SDF v2.1 format).
> Is there any chance that the vendor ASIC VITAL models
> are not 100% VITAL compatible, as mentioned on the
> Modelsim user manual?
> 
> Thanks,


I confronted similar problem.
I used Synopsys's DesignPower to estimate of power of the chip.
When I compiled the VITAL intenal memory libary of STM by VSS, such as lines
made errors.

==> VITAL Entity 'FIFO_94X16' has VITAL conformance error(s):
  TPD_OE_Q : VitalDealyArrayType01z(7 downto 0) := (others =>
           ^
**Error: vhdlan,2148 FIFO_94x16_ent.vhd(20):
    The type of a scalar timing generic parameter 'TPD_OE_Q' does not match
the
    type of the associated ports.
......

Other man who compiled by Leapfrog said he didn't have such error.
I could escape the error by changing the name TPD_CK_Q => aTPD_CK_Q.
I don't kwow why such error, but after changing it compiled well.
Maybe the name was a reserved word of VSS?
So, in my opinion, you may avoid error by changing names...

Is there a person who knows the reason of my case? please let me know!!!


-- ***************************************
-- Kyungjin Jang
-- DIT 2R, Daewoo Electronics CO., LTD.
-- ***************************************
Article: 16249
Subject: Re: Synchronizer design?
From: Roland.Froehlich@t-online.de (Roland =?iso-8859-1?Q?Fr=F6hlich?=)
Date: Wed, 12 May 1999 07:18:00 +0200
Links: << >>  << T >>  << A >>


Peter Alfke schrieb:

> Roland Fröhlich wrote:
>
> > With PLDs I have builded years ago the following good working design:
> >
> > Connect the input signal to a transparent latch with Latch-Enable= CLOCK.
> >
> > When the CLOCK is high, the output follows immediatly the input signal.
> > After CLOCK is going low, the output of the latch is freezed and can not
> > change more, so the setup-time of the subsequent D-type register can be
> > satisfied.
> > If you design the transparent latch with gates, switch off the optimizer,
> > because
> > it is essential to use all redundant terms in the feedback path to avoid
> > glitches.
> > This device does not exhibit  metastability behavior at the expense of
> > loss of
> > maximal one takt cycle latency, and the input signal must be valid for
> > longer as
> > one takt cycle for secure detection.
> >
>
> Sorry Roland, but you are wrong.
>
> A latch is equally as vulnerable to metastable delays as a flip-flop. Actually,
> it is the master latch in the flip-flop that goes metastable.
> When the data input changes right at the moment when you stop the latch from
> being transparent, you get the same unpredictable metastable delay as you get in
> a flip-flop.
>
> There is no way ( NO WAY ! ) to avoid metastability, but modern circuits resolve
> it so fast that metastability is no longer the same scary subject it was ten
> years ago.
>
> Peter Alfke, Xilinx Applications

Peter,
you are right with this statement. I remember the problem I have solved with the
mentioned design was not metastability but setup-time violation.
This is very serious if the sampled input signal is parallel feeded to different
synchronous blocks and the underlying logic concept assumes these signals
to be equal, but the actual hardware sees this not. This inconsistency let the
design work completly wrong and useless.
Roland Froehlich.



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