PROPERTIES OF GENERALIZED BRANCH AND COMBINE CLOCK NETWORKS

In a recent development a new clock distribution scheme has been intro duced. The scheme called Branch-and-Combine or BaC, is the first to gu arantee constant skew bound regardless of network size. In this paper we generalize and extend the work on BaC networks. Our study takes the approach of defining a general graph theoretic model which is then ut ilized to define a general network model taking into account node func tion. We use the models to establish some interesting results on clock ing paths, node input sequences, node inputs' relative timings, and sk ew bound. We prove that a network adhering to our general model is sta ble (will not oscillate) despite its cyclic nature. We also prove that no tree of any kind can be used to distribute the clock in two or mor e dimensions such that skew bound is constant. The paper then exploits the derived properties to describe the inherent interplay between top ology, timing, node function, and skew bound.