CLOCKING OPTIMIZATION AND DISTRIBUTION IN DIGITAL-SYSTEMS WITH SCHEDULED SKEWS

System performance can be improved by employing scheduled skews at fli p-flops. This optimization technique is called skewed-clock optimizati on and has been successfully used in memory designs to achieve high op erating frequencies. There are two important issues in developing this optimization technique. The first is the selection of appropriate clo ck skews to improve system performance. The second is to reliably dist ribute skewed clocks in the presence of manufacturing and environmenta l variations. Without the careful selection of clocking times and cont rol of unintentional clock skews, potential system performance might n ot be achieved. In this paper a theoretical framework is first present ed for solving the problem of optimally scheduling skews. A novel self -calibrating clock distribution scheme is then developed which can aut omatically track variations and minimize unintentional skews. Clocks w ith proper skews can be reliably delivered by such a scheme.