SemiWiki: Up front phases improve CDC analysis

By Don Dingee

Many tools find clock domain crossings (CDCs) in FPGA designs. Some don’t find the right ones since they don’t comprehend things like in-house synchronizer constructs. Some find too many based on misunderstanding intent, inaccurate constraints, and other factors that lead to noise. A new Aldec webinar offers guidance to improve CDC results.

Sergei Zaychenko of Aldec offers one diagram as a refresher on how CDCs create metastability, and the variables that factor into MTBF. His “impossible to avoid” comment – if there are multiple clock domains, there are CDCs by definition – suggests the urgency of finding and mitigating CDCs in an FPGA design.

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