On the general false path problem in timing analysis

Abstract

The false path problem is often referred to as the problem of detecting the longest sensitizable path (A path which is not a false path is a sensitizable path). The term “false path” is not clearly defined. In this paper, we first give a clear and precise definition of a false path. Then the general false path problem is formulated. The general false path problem is to detect whether a given path (not necessarily the longest one) is a false path. We present an efficient algorithm for solving the general false path problem. We also propose another algorithm which generates all the possible sensitizable paths with the delays greater than a given threshold T. The efficiency and effectiveness of the proposed algorithm are demonstrated by the experimental results.Index Terms: Timing Verification, Logic Simulation, VLSI circuit, Timing Analysis, False path, Graph Theory.