Revisiting automated physical synthesis of high-performance clock networks

Abstract

High-performance clock distribution has been a challenge for nearly three decades. During this time, clock synthesis tools and algorithms have strove to address a myriad of important issues helping designers to create faster, more reliable, and more power efficient chips. This work provides a complete discussion of the high-performance ASIC clock distribution using information gathered from both leading industrial clock designers and previous research publications. While many techniques are only briefly explained, the references summarize the most influential papers on a variety of topics for more in-depth investigation. This article also provides a thorough discussion of current issues in clock synthesis and concludes with insight into future research and design challenges for the community at large.