Valid clocking in wavepipelined circuits

An analysis of valid clock rates in wavepipelined circuits using a technique called timed Boolean functions is presented. It is shown that the valid intervals for the clock period can be disconnected. Thus, it is insufficient to known only the minimum valid clock period in guaranteeing proper operation of pipelined circuits. Analytic expressions for the valid clock intervals in terms of both topological delay and two-vector longest and shortest delays are provided. Also uncertainties arising from manufacturing are taken into account. Some potential difficulties in computing the exact valid clock intervals are illustrated by demonstrating discontinuity and nonmonotonicity of the harmonic number H( tau ) (the number of valid simultaneous data waves allowed) as a function of the clock period tau .<<ETX>>