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Clocks and PLL

Clocks and PLL. CS 3220 Fall 2014 Hadi Esmaeilzadeh hadi@cc.gatech.edu Georgia Institute of Technology Some slides adopted from Prof. Milos Prvulovic. Asynchronous vs. Synchronious. Glitches and delays are very hard to deal with People came up with synchronous circuits

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Clocks and PLL

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  1. Clocks and PLL CS 3220 Fall 2014 Hadi Esmaeilzadeh hadi@cc.gatech.edu Georgia Institute of Technology Some slides adopted from Prof. Milos Prvulovic

  2. Asynchronous vs. Synchronious • Glitches and delays are very hard to deal with • People came up with synchronous circuits • There is a clock, all FFs trigger on clock edge • All signals only matter at the clock edge • Glitches and delays don’t matter, as long asnew value stabilizes before the next clock edge • The clock signal had better not have any glitches! • Alternative: asynchronous circuits – no clock • Either design a glitch-free circuit, or • Generates a glitch-free “ready” signal when outputs are ready, use that to trigger next FF • Not easy to get the timing of the “ready” signal right Lecture 4: Clocks and PLLs

  3. Clocking • We will make synchronous (clocked) designs • All FFs triggered by the same clock signal • No need to worry about glitches • What should be the clock frequency? • Clock Cycle Time must be long enough toaccommodate delays along all paths in our design • Quartus compiler automatically computes these delays • So if our clock is too fast we get a Critical Warning • Do not overclock designs you submit for Projects! • Will lose points for doing that! • Design may not work at a different temperature, another instance of the DE-1 board, etc. Lecture 4: Clocks and PLLs

  4. Timing Requirements • Clock cycle time computed from clock frequency • Delays on all paths computed from your design • Slack – time left over after all delays • Timing requirement => no negative slack • Project designs must meet timing requirements • Will lose points for submitting an overclocked design • Design may work when you test it! • But if it does not meet timing requirements,it is not guaranteed to work at different temperaturesor on other boards Lecture 4: Clocks and PLLs

  5. What to use as a clock signal • The board has a 50MHz clock (CLOCK_50) • There are two others, at 24MHz and a 27MHz • Will likely need a different clock frequency? • Clock divider can get us some lower frequencies • E.g. what if we flip a FF every cycle at 50MHz? • We get a 25MHz clock signal! • But what if we want 40MHz or 85MHz? • Answer: PLL (Phase-Locked Loop) Lecture 4: Clocks and PLLs

  6. What is a PLL? • Phase-Locked Loop • Input: a clock signal at some frequency (e.g. 50MHz) • PLL can multiply frequency then divide it (50MHz*X/Y) • Cheap PLL: X and Y are fixed, can get some particular frequency • Fancy PLL: X and Y can be programmed • Lucky us – our board has a really fancy PLL  • Using the 50MHz clock as input, we can get a frequencythat is just a bit lower to what we want • Why not just a bit higher than what we want? • Can also control the duty cycle and phase shift • Duty cycle: What part of the cycle is clock HIGH (default is 50%) • Phase shift: Clock edge can be delayed relative to another clock • Don’t mess with these settings • If you need to change them, probably you are doing something wrong Lecture 4: Clocks and PLLs

  7. Using PLLs • PLLs is a specialized circuit, can’t synthesizea really good one using logic gates and FFs • But our FPGA chip includes 4 such circuits • We just need to get Quartus to use one! • Use a Verilog module that maps to a PLL,then connect it properly • Use QuartusMegaWizard to generate PLL code • Tools -> Mega Wizard Plug-In Manager • Select “Create a new custom megafunction variation” • In the dialog, select Verilog, a file name (e.g. PLL.v) and select Installed Plug-Ins -> I/O -> ALTPLL Lecture 4: Clocks and PLLs

  8. Configuring ALTPLL • Now we get to configure the PLL • Leave speed grade alone (our chip is speed grade 7) • Set input frequency to 50MHz (we will use CLOCK_50) • Leave PLL type and operation mode alone • On the next page, disable “areset” signal option,leave the option for the “locked” signal enabled,and enter 5000 in the “Hold locked input low…” box • Don’t create any additional clock inputs • For output clocks, we will only use c0 • Enter output clock frequency • You give it a frequency, “Actual settings” displays what it can do • Leave phase shift at 0 degrees and duty cycle at 50% for now • Later on, enable creation of the “Instantiation Template File” and click “Finish” Lecture 4: Clocks and PLLs

  9. Adding a PLL to our circuit • Need to create a PLL instance and wire it up • Right-click in your Verilog code • Select “Insert Template” • In the dialog, go to “Megafunctions -> Instances”,find the PLL and select it, then click “Insert” • Now change the paramaters to match our processor • E.g. we want “.inclk0(CLOCK_50)” • Connect .c0 clock output to what you use as a clock (e.g. “.c0(clk)”) • Now we have a clock signal for the FFs in our design • Remember – synchronous design • All FFs clocked with the same clock! • Don’t use CLOCK_50 for some FFs and the PLL output for others! • Hmmm… what is this “locked” signal that PLL is producing? Lecture 4: Clocks and PLLs

  10. The “locked” PLL signal • PLL takes time to achieve requested frequency • While it is “locking in”, clock frequency is unstable • Some clock cycles too long (which is OK) • But some are too short (not good, remember timing requirements) • Our design should wait until the clock is safe to use! always @(posedgeclk) if(locked) state <= …; Lecture 4: Clocks and PLLs

  11. Putting it all together wire clk,locked; PllmyPll(.inclk0(CLOCK_50),.c0(clk), .locked(locked)); wire reset=(!locked)|!KEY[0]; … always @(posedgeclk or posedge reset) if(reset) begin some_var<=some_var_init_val; end else begin your normal code, e.g.some_var <=…; end Lecture 4: Clocks and PLLs

  12. Resulting design: Lecture 4: Clocks and PLLs

  13. Do this for allreg variables? • No, just the ones that matter • Some FFs need no initialization • Can leave those uninitialized and/or assign w/o checking PLL lock • But easier to just init and lock-check everything • If something needed initialization and/or lock-check but youdidn’t do it, the resulting bug is very hard to find • Heisenbug – sometimes it manifests, sometimes not • Whether a Heisenbug-infested design works or not depends on: • Value that FF starts with • How many cycles the PLL needs to lock • Manufacturing variations (exact timing of gates on your board) • Temperature (changes speed of gates) • And many other things Lecture 4: Clocks and PLLs

  14. What if I do this… always @(posedgeclkor negedge lock) if(!lock) begin some_var<=some_var_init_val; end else begin your normal code, e.g.some_var <=…; end • Same behavior… but… • This puts initialization logic on every path! • With “or negedge lock”, uses SET/CLR inputs on FFs Lecture 4: Clocks and PLLs

  15. Note the difference! Lecture 4: Clocks and PLLs

  16. Extra Background on Initialization and Glitches

  17. Our On/Off Switch Again module Lectures(LEDG, KEY); output [0:0] LEDG; input [3:0] KEY; wire flip = ! KEY[3]; reg state; always @(posedge flip) state <= !state; assign LEDG[0]=state; endmodule • Is LEDG[0] initially on or off? Lecture 4: Clocks and PLLs

  18. Initialization module Lectures(LEDG, KEY); output [0:0] LEDG; input [3:0] KEY; wire flip = ! KEY[3]; reg state=0; always @(posedge flip) state <= !state; assign LEDG[0]=state; endmodule The initial value of the “state”flip-flop should be zero Lecture 4: Clocks and PLLs

  19. Initialization module Lectures(LEDG, KEY); output [0:0] LEDG; input [3:0] KEY; wire flip = ! KEY[3]; reg state; initial begin state=0; end always @(posedge flip) state <= !state; assign LEDG[0]=state; endmodule Same as previous slide, but allows formore complex initialization Usually you put the “initial” statement where the “always” block for that FF is Lecture 4: Clocks and PLLs

  20. Initialization and Reset module Lectures(LEDG, KEY); output [0:0] LEDG; input [3:0] KEY; wire flip = ! KEY[3]; wire reset=!KEY[2]; reg state; initial begin state=0; end always @(posedge flip or posedge reset) if(reset) state<=0; else state <= !state; assign LEDG[0]=state; endmodule Initialize the state whenthe board is turned on or programmed! Allows us to initialize the stateusing a reset signal! Lecture 4: Clocks and PLLs

  21. Glitches • Signals can briefly have wrong values • Due to logic delays and how they play together • Example: 4-bit adder • Inputs were 0000 and 0000, output is 0000 • Inputs change to 0001 and 1111, output stays 0000 • Actually, output changes briefly, then becomes 0000 • Why? • Let’s just look at the MSB part of the adder • Takes two inputs and carry, produces output bit • Problem: takes time for carry to arrive,meanwhile MSB output is 1 Lecture 4: Clocks and PLLs

  22. Glitch demo reg [3:0] cntr1,cntr2; initial begin cntr1 = 4'h0; cntr2 = 4'h0; end always @(posedgemykey[3]) begin cntr1 <= cntr1+4'h1; cntr2 <= cntr2-4'h1; end wire [3:0] sum = cntr1 + cntr2; // Should always be 0000 wire sumnz = (sum != 0); // Should always be 0 reg [9:0] nzCnt; initial nzCnt = 0; always @(posedgesumnz) nzCnt <= nzCnt + 9'd1; assign LEDG = {sumnz,3'b0,sum}; assign LEDR=nzCnt; Two counters that start at 0 and count in opposite directions Counts how many times sumnz became 1 Lecture 4: Clocks and PLLs

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