Sixth International Symposium on Advanced Research in Asynchronous Circuits and Systems (ASYNC'00)
An On-Chip Dynamically Recalibrated Delay Line for Embedded Self-Timed Systems
Eilat, Israel
April 02-April 06
ISBN: 0-7695-0586-4
Self-timed systems often have to communicate with their environment through a clocked interface. For example, off-chip memory may require clocking and this can reduce the benefits of self-timed design. This paper presents the design of a delay line, which may be used to control the timing of an off-chip interface. Timing accuracy is maintained by periodically recalibrating against a low frequency reference clock. The design uses two delay lines so that one can be recalibrated while the other is in use. Recalibration is undertaken once each second; power consumption is low as the calibration circuitry is dormant most of the time. A particular implementation of the design is presented which is suitable for a standard cell or FPGA technology, together with experimental performance figures. The paper concludes with some remarks about possible applications in low-power synchronous design.
Citation:
George Taylor, Simon Moore, Steve Wilcox, Peter Robinson, "An On-Chip Dynamically Recalibrated Delay Line for Embedded Self-Timed Systems," async, pp.45, Sixth International Symposium on Advanced Research in Asynchronous Circuits and Systems (ASYNC'00), 2000