Intel® Quartus® Prime Standard Edition User Guide: Timing Analyzer

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ID 683068
Date 2/21/2024
Public
Document Table of Contents
Document Table of Contents x
1. Timing Analysis Introduction 2. Using the Intel® Quartus® Prime Timing Analyzer A. Intel® Quartus® Prime Standard Edition User Guides
1. Timing Analysis Introduction x
1.1. Timing Analysis Basic Concepts 1.2. Document Revision History
1.1. Timing Analysis Basic Concepts x
1.1.1. Timing Path and Clock Analysis 1.1.2. Clock Setup Analysis 1.1.3. Clock Hold Analysis 1.1.4. Recovery and Removal Analysis 1.1.5. Multicycle Path Analysis 1.1.6. Metastability Analysis 1.1.7. Timing Pessimism 1.1.8. Clock-As-Data Analysis 1.1.9. Multicorner Analysis
1.1.1. Timing Path and Clock Analysis x
1.1.1.1. The Timing Netlist 1.1.1.2. Timing Paths 1.1.1.3. Data and Clock Arrival Times 1.1.1.4. Launch and Latch Edges
1.1.5. Multicycle Path Analysis x
1.1.5.1. Multicycle Clock Hold 1.1.5.2. Multicycle Clock Setup
2. Using the Intel® Quartus® Prime Timing Analyzer x
2.1. Enhanced Timing Analysis for Intel® Arria® 10 Devices 2.2. Basic Timing Analysis Flow 2.3. Using Timing Constraints 2.4. Timing Analyzer Tcl Commands 2.5. Timing Analysis of Imported Compilation Results 2.6. Using the Intel® Quartus® Prime Timing Analyzer Document Revision History
2.2. Basic Timing Analysis Flow x
2.2.1. Step 1: Open a Project and Run the Fitter 2.2.2. Step 2: Specify Timing Constraints 2.2.3. Step 3: Specify General Timing Analyzer Settings 2.2.4. Step 4: Run Timing Analysis 2.2.5. Step 5: Analyze Timing Analysis Results
2.2.5. Step 5: Analyze Timing Analysis Results x
2.2.5.1. Timing Report Commands 2.2.5.2. Set Operating Conditions 2.2.5.3. Fmax Summary Report 2.2.5.4. Report Timing Command 2.2.5.5. Correlating Constraints to the Timing Report 2.2.5.6. Locating Timing Paths in Other Tools
2.3. Using Timing Constraints x
2.3.1. Recommended Initial SDC Constraints 2.3.2. SDC File Precedence 2.3.3. Iterative Constraint Modification 2.3.4. Creating Clocks and Clock Constraints 2.3.5. Creating I/O Constraints 2.3.6. Creating Delay and Skew Constraints 2.3.7. Creating Timing Exceptions 2.3.8. Example Circuit and SDC File
2.3.1. Recommended Initial SDC Constraints x
2.3.1.1. Create Clock (create_clock) 2.3.1.2. Derive PLL Clocks (derive_pll_clocks) 2.3.1.3. Derive Clock Uncertainty (derive_clock_uncertainty) 2.3.1.4. Set Clock Groups (set_clock_groups)
2.3.4. Creating Clocks and Clock Constraints x
2.3.4.1. Creating Base Clocks 2.3.4.2. Creating Virtual Clocks 2.3.4.3. Creating Generated Clocks (create_generated_clock) 2.3.4.4. Deriving PLL Clocks 2.3.4.5. Creating Clock Groups (set_clock_groups) 2.3.4.6. Accounting for Clock Effect Characteristics
2.3.4.1. Creating Base Clocks x
2.3.4.1.1. Automatic Clock Detection and Constraint Creation
2.3.4.2. Creating Virtual Clocks x
2.3.4.2.1. Specifying I/O Interface Uncertainty 2.3.4.2.2. I/O Interface Clock Uncertainty Example
2.3.4.3. Creating Generated Clocks (create_generated_clock) x
2.3.4.3.1. Clock Divider Example (-divide_by) 2.3.4.3.2. Clock Multiplexor Example
2.3.4.5. Creating Clock Groups (set_clock_groups) x
2.3.4.5.1. Exclusive Clock Groups (-exclusive) 2.3.4.5.2. Asynchronous Clock Groups (-asynchronous) 2.3.4.5.3. set_clock_groups Constraint Tips
2.3.4.6. Accounting for Clock Effect Characteristics x
2.3.4.6.1. Set Clock Latency (set_clock_latency) 2.3.4.6.2. Clock Uncertainty
2.3.5. Creating I/O Constraints x
2.3.5.1. Input Constraints (set_input_delay) 2.3.5.2. Output Constraints (set_output_delay)
2.3.6. Creating Delay and Skew Constraints x
2.3.6.1. Advanced I/O Timing and Board Trace Model Delay 2.3.6.2. Maximum Skew (set_max_skew) 2.3.6.3. Net Delay (set_net_delay) 2.3.6.4. Create Timing Netlist
2.3.7. Creating Timing Exceptions x
2.3.7.1. Timing Constraint Precedence 2.3.7.2. False Paths (set_false_path) 2.3.7.3. Minimum and Maximum Delays 2.3.7.4. Multicycle Paths 2.3.7.5. Multicycle Exception Examples 2.3.7.6. Delay Annotation
2.3.7.4. Multicycle Paths x
2.3.7.4.1. Common Multicycle Applications 2.3.7.4.2. Relaxing Setup with Multicycle (set_multicyle_path) 2.3.7.4.3. Accounting for a Phase Shift (-phase)
2.3.7.5. Multicycle Exception Examples x
2.3.7.5.1. Default Multicycle Analysis 2.3.7.5.2. End Multicycle Setup = 2 and End Multicycle Hold = 0 2.3.7.5.3. End Multicycle Setup = 2 and End Multicycle Hold = 1 2.3.7.5.4. Same Frequency Clocks with Destination Clock Offset 2.3.7.5.5. Destination Clock Frequency is a Multiple of the Source Clock Frequency 2.3.7.5.6. Destination Clock Frequency is a Multiple of the Source Clock Frequency with an Offset 2.3.7.5.7. Source Clock Frequency is a Multiple of the Destination Clock Frequency 2.3.7.5.8. Source Clock Frequency is a Multiple of the Destination Clock Frequency with an Offset
2.4. Timing Analyzer Tcl Commands x
2.4.1. The quartus_sta Executable 2.4.2. Collection Commands 2.4.3. Identifying the Intel® Quartus® Prime Software Executable from the SDC File
2.4.2. Collection Commands x
2.4.2.1. Wildcard Characters 2.4.2.2. Adding and Removing Collection Items 2.4.2.3. Query of Collections 2.4.2.4. Using the get_pins Command
1. Timing Analysis Introduction
2. Using the Intel® Quartus® Prime Timing Analyzer
A. Intel® Quartus® Prime Standard Edition User Guides

2.2.5. Step 5: Analyze Timing Analysis Results

During analysis, the Timing Analyzer examines the timing paths in the design, calculates the propagation delay along each path, checks for timing constraint violations, and reports timing results as positive slack or negative slack. Negative slack indicates a timing violation. Positive slack indicates the design meets the constraint.

The Timing Analyzer provides very fine-grained reporting and analysis capabilities to identify and correct violations along timing paths. Generate timing reports to view how to best optimize the critical paths in your design. If you modify, remove, or add constraints, re-run timing analysis. This iterative process helps resolve timing violations in your design.

Figure 37. Timing Analyzer Shows Failing Paths in Red

Reports that indicate failing timing performance appear in red text, reports that pass appear in black text. A gold question mark icon indicates reports that are outdated due to SDC changes since generation. Regenerate these reports to show the latest data.

The following sections describe how to generate various timing reports for analysis.


Section Content
Timing Report Commands
Set Operating Conditions
Fmax Summary Report
Report Timing Command
Correlating Constraints to the Timing Report
Locating Timing Paths in Other Tools

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