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

ID 683243
Date 1/31/2023
Public

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3.6.8.3. Minimum and Maximum Delays

To specify an absolute minimum or maximum delay for a path, use the Set Minimum Delay (set_min_delay) or the Set Maximum Delay (set_max_delay) constraints, respectively. Specifying minimum and maximum delay directly overwrites existing setup and hold relationships with the minimum and maximum values.

Use the set_max_delay and set_min_delay constraints for asynchronous signals that do not have a specific clock relationship in your design, but require a minimum and maximum path delay. You can create minimum and maximum delay exceptions for port-to-port paths through the device without a register stage in the path. If you use minimum and maximum delay exceptions to constrain the path delay, specify both the minimum and maximum delay of the path; do not constrain only the minimum or maximum value.

If the source or destination node is clocked, the Timing Analyzer takes into account the clock paths, allowing more or less delay on the data path. If the source or destination node has an input or output delay, the minimum or maximum delay check also includes that delay.

If you specify a minimum or maximum delay between timing nodes, the delay applies only to the path between the two nodes. If you specify a minimum or maximum delay for a clock, the delay applies to all paths where the clock clocks the source node or destination node.

You can create a minimum or maximum delay exception for an output port that does not have an output delay constraint. You cannot report timing for the paths that relate to the output port; however, the Timing Analyzer reports any slack for the path in the setup summary and hold summary reports. Because there is no clock that relates to the output port, the Timing Analyzer reports no clock for timing paths of the output port.

Note: To report timing with clock filters for output paths with minimum and maximum delay constraints, you can set the output delay for the output port with a value of zero. You can use an existing clock from the design or a virtual clock as the clock reference.