Intel® Quartus® Prime Pro Edition User Guide: Design Recommendations

ID 683082
Date 10/04/2021
Public

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2.2.3.1. Register Combinational Logic Outputs

If you use the output from combinational logic as a clock signal or as an asynchronous reset signal, you can expect to see glitches in your design. In a synchronous design, glitches on data inputs of registers are normal events that have no consequences. However, a glitch or a spike on the clock input (or an asynchronous input) to a register can have significant consequences.

Narrow glitches can violate the register’s minimum pulse width requirements. Setup and hold requirements might also be violated if the data input of the register changes when a glitch reaches the clock input. Even if the design does not violate timing requirements, the register output can change value unexpectedly and cause functional hazards elsewhere in the design.

To avoid these problems, you should always register the output of combinational logic before you use it as a clock signal.

Figure 10. Recommended Clock-Generation Technique

Registering the output of combinational logic ensures that glitches generated by the combinational logic are blocked at the data input of the register.