摘要 |
A system that measures timing margins within a digital system by varying a clock skew between components in the digital system. The system receives a reference clock signal as an input. This reference clock signal is used to generate a first clock signal and a second clock signal so that there exists a programmable skew between the first clock signal and the second clock signal. The first clock signal is used to drive a first component, and the second clock signal is used to drive a second component in the digital system. The system measures an upper margin for the clock skew by iteratively increasing the clock skew and testing the system to verify that it operates correctly. When the digital system stops operating correctly, the upper margin is set to be the amount by which the clock skew was increased before the digital system stopped operating correctly. The system can also measure a lower margin for the clock skew by iteratively decreasing the clock skew and testing the system to verify that it operates correctly. When the digital system ultimately stops operating correctly, the lower margin is set to be the amount by which the clock skew was decreased before the digital system stopped operating correctly.
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