Lecture #34: data transfer
• Last lecture:
– Example circuits
– shift registers
– Adders
– Counters
• This lecture
– Communications synchronous / asynchronous
– Buses
– Start transmission lines
11/19/2004
EE 42 fall 2004 lecture 34
1
Data transfer
• In addition to computation, it is necessary to
transmit information from one place to another.
• Buses are used to move data from one logic
device to another in parallel
• If the devices are close together, the delay is the
RC time to charge the capacitance.
• If the devices are further apart, need to consider
propagation velocity, distortion, crosstalk.
11/19/2004
EE 42 fall 2004 lecture 34
2
Multiplexer vs tri-state/bus
• To send information to several different
destinations, you can just run wires to each of
the destinations.
• But to have information from several sources go
to the same destination, you need to control
which device drives the destination, can not
tolerate pulling up and down on the same wire.
• This can be done using multiplexers, or by using
tri-state drivers in a bus architecture
11/19/2004
EE 42 fall 2004 lecture 34
3
Multiplexer
For example, if you have four inputs, you
would need a 2 selector 4 input multiplexer
for each bit of output.
I1
I2
I3
I4
A
B
11/19/2004
O
2 input decoder
EE 42 fall 2004 lecture 34
4
Bus with tri-state drivers
• To efficiently route information from many
source, a bus can be driven by tri-state
drivers. The logic must ensure that only
one driver is active at a time.
11/19/2004
EE 42 fall 2004 lecture 34
5
Bus
• A bus may be synchronous, to a clock
edge for example, or asynchronous with
handshaking and control lines
Data 0
Data 1
Data 2
Data 3
Data 4
Data 5
Data 6
Data 7
Clock
11/19/2004
EE 42 fall 2004 lecture 34
6
Synchronous v. Asynchronous
Clock Signal
Synchronous Circuit
Asynchronous Circuit
Handshake Control
11/19/2004
EE 42 fall 2004 lecture 34
7
Synchronous
• In a synchronous circuit, there is an
explicit global synchronization through the
clock signal.
• The clock period is chosen to be longer
than the worst case delay (gate delays +
transmission delays)
11/19/2004
EE 42 fall 2004 lecture 34
8
Asynchronous circuit
Ack
R
Logic
R
Logic
Logic
R
R
Req
Synchronization with Req / Ack handshakes
11/19/2004
EE 42 fall 2004 lecture 34
9
asynchronous
• Asynchronous design is often unavoidable:
– User interfaces
– Different speed devices
– Clocks are difficult to distribute over long distances
• More difficult to design, design tools generally have been
synchronous only, but asynchronous design tools are being
developed.
• Most current devices us synchronous logic inside local blocks, and
asynchronous communication between blocks.
• What constitutes a “block” is shrinking as logic speeds increase.
– Currently making jump to chips with multiple independent blocks, or fully
asynchronous logic.
11/19/2004
EE 42 fall 2004 lecture 34
10
Metastability and Asynchronous
inputs
• Clocked synchronous circuits
– Inputs, state, and outputs sampled or changed in relation to a
common reference signal (called the clock)
– E.g., master/slave, edge-triggered
• Asynchronous circuits
– Inputs, state, and outputs sampled or changed independently of
a common reference signal (glitches/hazards a major concern)
– E.g., R-S latch
• Asynchronous inputs to synchronous circuits
– Inputs can change at any time, will not meet setup/hold times
– Dangerous, synchronous inputs are greatly preferred
– Cannot be avoided (e.g., reset signal, memory wait, user input)
11/19/2004
EE 42 fall 2004 lecture 34
11
Synchronous communication
1
1
0
0
1
0
• Clock edges determine the time instants where data
must be sampled
• Data wires may glitch between clock edges
(data must be stable for set–up/hold times)
11/19/2004
EE 42 fall 2004 lecture 34
12
Handling Asynchronous Inputs
(cont’d)
• What can go wrong?
– Input changes too close to clock edge
(violating setup time constraint)
In
In is asynchronous and
fans out to D0 and D1
Q0
one FF catches the
signal, one does not
Q1
State of Q0 and Q1
is inconsistent
CLK
11/19/2004
EE 42 fall 2004 lecture 34
13
Synchronization Failure
• Occurs when FF input changes close to clock edge
– FF may enter a metastable state – neither a logic 0 nor 1 –
– May stay in this state an indefinite amount of time
– Is not likely in practice but has some probability
logic 1
logic 0
logic 1
small, but non-zero probability
that the FF output will get stuck
in an in-between state
11/19/2004
logic 0
oscilloscope traces demonstrating
synchronizer failure and eventual
EE 42 fall 2004 lecture 34 decay to steady state
14
Dealing with Synchronization
Failure
• Probability of failure can never be reduced to 0, but it
can be reduced
– (1) slow down the system clock: this gives the synchronizer
more time to decay into a steady state; synchronizer failure
becomes a big problem for very high speed systems
– (2) use fastest possible logic technology in the synchronizer:
this makes for a very sharp "peak" upon which to balance
– (3) cascade two synchronizers: this effectively synchronizes
twice (both would have to fail)
asynchronous
input
D
Q
D
synchronized
input
Q
Clk
11/19/2004
EE 42 fall 2004 lecture 34
15
synchronous system
Edge-Triggered Flip-Flops
• More efficient solution: only 6 gates
– sensitive to inputs only near edge of clock signal (not while high)
holds D' when
clock goes low
R
Q
Clk=1
S
Q’
holds D when
clock goes low
D
11/19/2004
EE 42 fall 2004 lecture 34
negative edge-triggered D
flip-flop (D-FF)
4-5 gate delays
must respect setup and hold time
constraints to successfully
capture input
characteristic equation
Q(t+1) = D
16
Definition: Set up time/hold time
Tsu Th
data
D Q
D Q
input
clock
clock
stable changing
data
clock
To ensure that the data signal is captured
accurately, the data must be stable for an
time tsu (set up) before the edge, and kept
constant for a time th (hold) after the edge.
11/19/2004
EE 42 fall 2004 lecture 34
17
Handling Asynchronous Inputs
•
•
If you have to deal with an input which could change at any time, not
under you control, what do you do?
Never allow asynchronous inputs to fan-out to more than one flipflop
– Synchronize as soon as possible and then treat as synchronous signal
Clocked
Synchronous
System
Async
Input
D Q
Synchronizer
Q0
Async
Input
D Q
D Q
Clock
Clock
D Q
Q1
Clock
11/19/2004
EE 42 fall 2004 lecture 34
Q0
D Q
Q1
Clock
18
Asynchronous Logic
Ack
R
Logic
R
Logic
Logic
R
R
Req
Current practice is starting to embrace
asynchronous logic design even on a single chip
11/19/2004
EE 42 fall 2004 lecture 34
19
Key Design Differences
• Synchronous logic design:
– Does not need to take timing correctness
(hazards) into account in many cases
– Combinational logic and memory latches
are built separately
– Static timing analysis of the logic is sufficient to
determine the max delay and the required clock period.
11/19/2004
EE 42 fall 2004 lecture 34
20
Difficulties with asynchronous
design
• Synchronous logic:
– Only functional correctness aspect must be verified and tested
• Asynchronous logic:
– In addition to functional correctness, timing must be analyzed
– Operation may change for each different operation and operation
rate
– Testing is more difficult
– Most circuit designers learn only synchronous design.
– Most CAD tools only support synchronous design.
– Asynchronous circuit CAD tools are being developed.
11/19/2004
EE 42 fall 2004 lecture 34
21
Clock skew
• A major difficulty with synchronous
communications is the fact that the clock must
also travel some distance.
• The clock being different from one place in a
circuit to another is called clock skew.
• For communications over a distance of a meter
or so, parallel busses are being abandoned in
favor of higher speed asynchronous serial
communications.
• Examples parallelUSB PCI PCI express
11/19/2004
EE 42 fall 2004 lecture 34
22
Serial transmission
• Parallel-to-serial conversion for serial
transmission
parallel outputs
parallel inputs
serial transmission
11/19/2004
EE 42 fall 2004 lecture 34
23
Long signal paths
• Signal delay
– Component delay + interconnection delay
• Signal integrity
•
•
•
•
11/19/2004
Reflections
Waveform distortion
Signal attenuation
Crosstalk
EE 42 fall 2004 lecture 34
24
Gate delay
• So far, the only delay that we have considered is the
time needed to charge up the capacitance due to lines,
and due to the capacitance of the gates of the next
stage.
• This implies that if we could only push enough current,
we can make the delay as short as we like.
R
Wire
11/19/2004
EE 42 fall 2004 lecture 34
Gates
25
Gate delay
• If we want to speed up logic, we can
increase the drive
– reduce the pull up and pull down resistance
• or we can reduce the capacitance.
– Shorter lines, narrower lines, reduced
dielectric constant of dielectric between wires.
This is limited, however by the speed of light
11/19/2004
EE 42 fall 2004 lecture 34
26
Light speed
• With lines that are long enough, or switching
speeds are high enough, then we can not
consider the delay to be simply that due to
charging up the capacitance. The signal will
propagate along a wire at the speed of light (in
the dielectric, which is slower than that in air or
vacuum)
• Quite a bit of current is necessary to pull up a
line that fast, for a 1 volt signal, 10-20 milliamps
are required.
11/19/2004
EE 42 fall 2004 lecture 34
27
Transmission Line
• When a signal wire is driven with that fast a rise
time compared to its length, a signal will travel
along the wire at the speed of light in the media.
• It is even possible to turn off the current, and
have the pulse that is already on the line
continue to propagate toward the destination
• So you don’t have to wait for one bit to arrive
before you send the next
11/19/2004
EE 42 fall 2004 lecture 34
28
Transmission Line
• As the voltage pulses propagate down the
line, there is a current pulse which travels
down the line with them.
• The current is always balanced between
two conductors, for example forward in
one conductor, and backward in the other
11/19/2004
EE 42 fall 2004 lecture 34
29
Transmission Line
• Voltage
• Current in (+) signal line
• Current in (-) signal line, or current in ground
• If the signal is conducted in a pair of lines, it is called a balanced
line. If the return path is through a ground, it is called unbalanced
11/19/2004
EE 42 fall 2004 lecture 34
30
Transmission line impedance
• The ratio of the voltage of propagating pulses to the
current the carry is a constant, called the impedance of
the line
Z0 
Vpulse
I pulse
• A typical transmission line impedance is 50-100 ohms.
• When a line is being used in this fashion, it can not be
split into two, because for a given voltage, twice as much
current would be needed
• So digital transmission lines do not branch, there is only
one path from one end to another.
11/19/2004
EE 42 fall 2004 lecture 34
31
Transmission line termination
• Since a transmission line carries pulses of
voltage and current, there must be
somewhere for the current to go.
• FET devices are very high impedance, so
they don’t absorb that current
• All that is required to absorb the current at
the end of the transmission line is a
resistor which has the same resistance as
the impedance of the line Rtermination=Z0
11/19/2004
EE 42 fall 2004 lecture 34
32