Semiconductor integrated circuit and control method for clock signal synchronization
First Claim
1. A semiconductor integrated circuit comprising:
- a first circuit that operates using a first power-supply voltage supplied from a power supplying Large Scale Integration (LSI) circuit;
a second circuit that operates using a second power-supply voltage;
a clock generation circuit that generates a clock;
a clock tree that transmits the clock generated by the clock generation circuit to the first circuit and the second circuit;
a clock synchronization circuit having a plurality of delay stages that perform clock delay adjustment between a first path for transmitting the clock to the first circuit and a second path for transmitting the clock to the second circuit along the clock tree to synchronize the clock in the first and second paths; and
a control circuit that notifies the power supplying LSI circuit of change control over the first power-supply voltage,wherein the power supplying LSI circuit is notified of a voltage change velocity for applying variable control to the first power-supply voltage,wherein control is performed to match a phase between the clock as supplied to the first circuit and the clock as supplied to the second circuit when a voltage of the first circuit is changed at the voltage change velocity, andwherein the clock synchronization circuit comprises;
a second comparison circuit for comparing a phase between a clock output signal from a variable delay circuit and a clock signal propagated along a through path thereof; and
a delay control circuit for controlling a delay setting provided by the variable delay circuit,wherein the delay control circuit, based on a comparison result from the second comparison circuit, sets a delay equivalent to an integral multiple of a clock cycle to an output from the variable delay circuit in accordance with the clock signal propagated along the through path,wherein the delay control circuit responds to an instruction to change the first power-supply voltage from a standard voltage to another voltage,wherein the delay control circuit allows a selection circuit to select an output from the variable delay circuit and adjusts a delay setting of the variable delay circuit based on a comparison result from a first comparison circuit, andwherein the delay control circuit controls phase synchronization between the clock transmitted to the first circuit and the clock transmitted to the second circuit.
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Accused Products
Abstract
There is a need to ensure operation performance of a circuit region under DVFS control at low costs and highly precisely while a power-supply voltage change is made to the region. A first circuit (FVA) uses a first power-supply voltage (VDDA) for operation. A second circuit (NFVA) uses a second power-supply voltage (VDDB) for operation. A clock delay may be adjusted between paths for transmitting a clock to these circuits. When VDDA equals VDDB, a clock is distributed to FVA through a path that does not contain a delay device for phase adjustment. When the power-supply voltage for the FVA region is reduced, a clock is distributed to the FVA region based on a phase equivalent to one or two cycles of the clock displaced. Synchronization control is provided to synchronize clocks (CKAF and CKBF) and ensures operation so that a phase of two clocks to be compared fits in a range of design values while the power-supply voltage for the first circuit is changed.
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Citations
13 Claims
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1. A semiconductor integrated circuit comprising:
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a first circuit that operates using a first power-supply voltage supplied from a power supplying Large Scale Integration (LSI) circuit; a second circuit that operates using a second power-supply voltage; a clock generation circuit that generates a clock; a clock tree that transmits the clock generated by the clock generation circuit to the first circuit and the second circuit; a clock synchronization circuit having a plurality of delay stages that perform clock delay adjustment between a first path for transmitting the clock to the first circuit and a second path for transmitting the clock to the second circuit along the clock tree to synchronize the clock in the first and second paths; and a control circuit that notifies the power supplying LSI circuit of change control over the first power-supply voltage, wherein the power supplying LSI circuit is notified of a voltage change velocity for applying variable control to the first power-supply voltage, wherein control is performed to match a phase between the clock as supplied to the first circuit and the clock as supplied to the second circuit when a voltage of the first circuit is changed at the voltage change velocity, and wherein the clock synchronization circuit comprises; a second comparison circuit for comparing a phase between a clock output signal from a variable delay circuit and a clock signal propagated along a through path thereof; and a delay control circuit for controlling a delay setting provided by the variable delay circuit, wherein the delay control circuit, based on a comparison result from the second comparison circuit, sets a delay equivalent to an integral multiple of a clock cycle to an output from the variable delay circuit in accordance with the clock signal propagated along the through path, wherein the delay control circuit responds to an instruction to change the first power-supply voltage from a standard voltage to another voltage, wherein the delay control circuit allows a selection circuit to select an output from the variable delay circuit and adjusts a delay setting of the variable delay circuit based on a comparison result from a first comparison circuit, and wherein the delay control circuit controls phase synchronization between the clock transmitted to the first circuit and the clock transmitted to the second circuit. - View Dependent Claims (2)
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3. A semiconductor integrated circuit comprising:
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a first circuit that operates using a first power-supply voltage supplied from a power supplying Large Scale Integration (LSI) circuit; a second circuit that operates using a second power-supply voltage; a clock generation circuit that generates a clock; a clock tree that transmits the clock generated by the clock generation circuit to the first circuit and the second circuit; a clock synchronization circuit having a plurality of delay stages that perform clock delay adjustment between a first path for transmitting the clock to the first circuit and a second path for transmitting the clock to the second circuit along the clock tree to synchronize the clock in the first and second paths; and a control circuit that notifies the power supplying LSI circuit of change control over the first power-supply voltage, wherein the power supplying LSI circuit is notified of a voltage change velocity for applying variable control to the first power-supply voltage, wherein control is performed to match a phase between the clock as supplied to the first circuit and the clock as supplied to the second circuit when a voltage of the first circuit is changed at the voltage change velocity, and wherein a first comparison circuit is a dynamic comparator that uses one clock signal as an activation signal for a differential input stage, differentially amplifies another clock signal based on a reference voltage equivalent to half a drive voltage for the another clock signal, and senses and latches a differential amplification result. - View Dependent Claims (4)
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5. A semiconductor integrated circuit comprising:
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a first circuit that operates using a first power-supply voltage supplied from a power supplying Large Scale Integration (LSI) circuit; a second circuit that operates using a second power-supply voltage; a clock generation circuit that generates a clock; a clock tree that transmits the clock generated by the clock generation circuit to the first circuit and the second circuit; a clock synchronization circuit having a plurality of delay stages that perform clock delay adjustment between a first path for transmitting the clock to the first circuit and a second path for transmitting the clock to the second circuit along the clock tree to synchronize the clock in the first and second paths; and a control circuit that notifies the power supplying LSI circuit of change control over the first power-supply voltage, wherein the power supplying LSI circuit is notified of a voltage change velocity for applying variable control to the first power-supply voltage, wherein control is performed to match a phase between the clock as supplied to the first circuit and the clock as supplied to the second circuit when a voltage of the first circuit is changed at the voltage change velocity, and wherein the first circuit comprises; a clock gate circuit that selectively prevents the clock signal propagated along the clock tree from being output to a subsequent stage; and a clock replica circuit that branches from the clock tree before the clock gate circuit and propagates the clock signal to simulate a clock delay from the clock gate circuit to a node, and wherein a first phase comparison circuit compares a phase between a clock transmitted to the clock replica circuit and the clock transmitted to the second circuit.
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6. A control method for clock signal synchronization that, in a semiconductor integrated circuit comprising a first circuit using a first power-supply voltage for operation and a second circuit using a second power-supply voltage for operation, performs clock delay adjustment between a first path for transmitting a clock to the first circuit and a second path for transmitting the clock to the second circuit along a clock tree for transmitting the clock to the first circuit and the second circuit and synchronizes the clock in the first and second paths, the method comprising:
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a voltage change process of changing the first power-supply voltage using a control circuit; and a clock synchronization process of controlling clock synchronization by performing the clock delay adjustment during the voltage change process, wherein the semiconductor integrated circuit provides a clock synchronization circuit for a path for transmitting the clock to the first circuit, wherein the clock synchronization circuit comprises; a variable delay circuit for assigning a delay to an input clock signal; a through path for letting the input clock signal pass through without assigning a delay; and a selection circuit for selecting one of a clock signal output from the variable delay circuit and a clock signal output from the through path, wherein the selection circuit selects the clock signal output from the through path when the first power-supply voltage is a standard voltage, and selects the clock signal output from the variable delay circuit when the first power-supply voltage is not a standard voltage. - View Dependent Claims (7)
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8. A semiconductor integrated circuit comprising:
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a first circuit that operates using a first power-supply voltage supplied from a power supplying Large Scale Integration (LSI) circuit; a second circuit that operates using a second power-supply voltage; a clock generation circuit that generates a clock; a clock tree that transmits the clock generated by the clock generation circuit to the first circuit and the second circuit; a clock synchronization circuit having a plurality of delay stages that perform clock delay adjustment between a first path for transmitting the clock to the first circuit and a second path for transmitting the clock to the second circuit along the clock tree to synchronize the clock in the first and second paths; and a control circuit that notifies the power supplying LSI circuit of change control over the first power-supply voltage, wherein the power supplying LSI circuit is notified of a voltage change velocity for applying variable control to the first power-supply voltage, wherein control is performed to match a phase between the clock as supplied to the first circuit and the clock as supplied to the second circuit when a voltage of the first circuit is changed at the voltage change velocity, and wherein the semiconductor integrated circuit branches the clock distributed to the second circuit into a third clock signal passing through a delay circuit and a fourth clock signal not passing through a delay circuit immediately before comparison with the clock for the first circuit, the semiconductor integrated circuit further comprising; a third comparator that compares a phase between the clock distributed to the first circuit and the third clock signal; a fourth phase comparator that compares a phase between the clock distributed to the first circuit and the fourth clock signal; and a first delay stage change table, wherein delay stage control is provided to control a delay variation at a next cycle and a comparison time interval for the third and fourth comparators at a next cycle, in accordance with a comparison result from the third and fourth phase comparators and data maintained in the first delay stage change table. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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Specification