Quartus Timing Analyzer question

Hi. I am working with Alera Quartus software on FPGA realization of STFT(Short Time Fourier Transform) and I have one problem. I am constantly getting this waring

"Warning: Circuit may not operate. Detected 140 non-operational path(s) clocked by clock "clk" with clock skew larger than data delay."

Shortly: I create one entity "A", compile it and I don't get this warning (I dont have that "non-operational paths" in this project), but when I use this entity for some other project I get this worning saying me that this "non-operational paths" are in previosly create "A" entity. I am not shure that I know what this non-operational paths are.

Could anybody help me about this. Any kind of help would be precious to me.

Thanks

Reply to
Zorjak
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Zorjak,

A non-operational path is a "Hold Violation". We give this type of warning in cases where there is no clock requirements and the clock delay to the destination/latching register is much larger than the clock delay to the source/launching register (larger than the data delay), creating harmful clock skew. This is a problem because the data travels to the destination register much faster than the clock, creating a situation where the destination register will latch data sent by the source register on the "same clock edge" (as oppose to the following clock cycle). This is very serious as it means the circuit will never operate no matter what the clock speed is. See

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So, why are you seeing this? This can happen if Quartus cannot place the clock on a global clock network, or more often, if the design has gated clocks (i.e. logic in the clock path), or ripple clocks not defined as derived clocks.

The reason why you get the warning in some cases and not in others is likely plain luck. Based on the fit, the two registers may have positive clock skew (which result in the hold violation) or negative skew (which simply results in a lower Fmax). Or the different fit may simply slow down the data path such that data delay > clock skew. From the Clock Hold Timing Analyzer report panel, select the row with the Non-operational message, and use the mouse right-button "List Path" command to get details on the path. It will show you details on both the clock skew and data path

strongly recommend that you create clock requirements for all your clocks. This should include derived clocks on any ripple clocks (e.g. clock dividers). This will help the fitter come up with a better answer. If you go to "Assignments | Settings..." and clock on the "Fitter Settings", you will also find an "Optimize hold timing" check. You can change its value to "All Paths" to have the fitter insert delay to try to avoid hold violations. But this setting will only work well if you define your clocks correctly (this is very important). Please look at the following handbook chapter for more on timing analysis

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David Karchmer Altera Corp

Reply to
dkarchmer

Thanks David for this explanation.

I think that I understood you. Thanks for this advices. You are great.

Thanks aga> Zorjak,

Reply to
Zorjak

When you said "define clock corectly", you meant define them in timing analyzer. Am I right? I did that and I found which paths have "Hold Violation". But I don't know what to do now. What should I do to get rid of this "Non operational path". Should I insert some "delay" in these datapaths (how?), or there is another way. What can be done in this situation? Also, I defined all clocks (in timing analyzer), and I set on "optimaze hold timing" stating "all path", but I still have these "non operational paths".

I apologize if this questions is so stupid but I realy don't know how to move on. Any advice is helpfull.

Thanks

Zorjak wrote:

Reply to
Zorjak

Yes, all clocks need to be correctly defined in the Timing Analyzer

In your case, I would continue focusing on why you have clock skew. A clean design should not have any clock skew to beging with, so changes in your HDL will likely be needed. As I said before, try doing a "List path" operation (use button-2 mouse on Hold Clock panel), and expand the clock skew message to get the detail path of both the source clock and the destination clock. You can locate to the chip planner and/or tech map viewer to visualize the path. Check specifically for combinational logic in your clock path, and if you find it, try to change your HDL to get rid of it (e.g. use the register's clock enable instead on an AND gate in your clock path).

The other thing you want to check is your global clock utilization. Check the "Global Signals" under the "Resource Section" in the fitter report and confirm you are not running out of global signals, and that the clock in question has access to global resources.

Also, take a look at the "Timing Optimization Advisor" and read

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and
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for more ideas.

Good luck.

-David Karchmer Altera

Reply to
dkarchmer

Thanks again, David. You realy helped.

I successed to get rid of this warning but I am still not shure how:):):). For now its ok, but obviosly | have to learn much more.

Anywhay, this literature you recomended to me was realy helpfull. Thanks aga> > When you said "define clock corectly", you meant define them in timing

Reply to
Zorjak

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