You can use a quarter of the available LABs in the Intel^® Arria^® 10 devices as a memory LAB (MLAB). Certain devices may have higher MLAB ratio.

The Intel^® Quartus^® Prime software and other supported third-party synthesis tools, in conjunction with parameterized functions such as the library of parameterized modules (LPM), automatically choose the appropriate mode for common functions such as counters, adders, subtractors, and arithmetic functions.

This chapter contains the following sections:

• LAB
• ALM Operating Modes

MLAB is a superset of the LAB and includes all the LAB features.

You can configure each ALM in an MLAB as a 32 (depth) × 2 (width) memory block, resulting in a configuration of 32 (depth) × 20 (width) simple dual-port SRAM block.

MLAB supports the following 64-deep modes in soft implementation using the Intel^® Quartus^® Prime software:

• 64 (depth) × 8 (width)
• 64 (depth) × 9 (width)
• 64 (depth) × 10 (width)

The direct link connection feature minimizes the use of row and column interconnects, providing higher performance and flexibility.

The local interconnect drives ALMs in the same LAB using column and row interconnects, and ALM outputs in the same LAB.

Neighboring LABs, MLABs, M20K blocks, or digital signal processing (DSP) blocks from the left or right can also drive the LAB’s local interconnect using the direct link connection.

The LAB control block generates up to three clocks using the two clock sources and three clock enable signals. An inverted clock source is considered as an individual clock source. Each clock and the clock enable signals are linked.

Deasserting the clock enable signal turns off the corresponding LAB-wide clock.

The LAB row clocks [5..0] and LAB local interconnects generate the LAB-wide control signals. The inherent low skew of the MultiTrack interconnect allows clock and control signal distribution in addition to data. The MultiTrack interconnect consists of continuous, performance-optimized routing lines of different lengths and speeds used for inter- and intra-design block connectivity.

With up to eight inputs for the two combinational ALUTs, one ALM can implement various combinations of two functions. This adaptability allows an ALM to be completely backward-compatible with four-input LUT architectures. One ALM can also implement any function with up to six inputs and certain seven-input functions.

One ALM contains four programmable registers. Each register has the following ports:

• Data
• Clock
• Synchronous and asynchronous clear
• Synchronous load

Global signals, general purpose I/O (GPIO) pins, or any internal logic can drive the clock enable signal and the clock and clear control signals of an ALM register.

For combinational functions, the registers are bypassed and the output of the look-up table (LUT) drives directly to the outputs of an ALM.

The LUT, adder, or register output can drive the ALM outputs. The LUT or adder can drive one output while the register drives another output.

Register packing improves device utilization by allowing unrelated register and combinational logic to be packed into a single ALM. Another mechanism to improve fitting is to allow the register output to feed back into the LUT of the same ALM so that the register is packed with its own fan-out LUT. The ALM can also drive out registered and unregistered versions of the LUT or adder output.

The Intel^® Arria^® 10 ALM operates in any of the following modes:

• Normal mode
• Extended LUT mode
• Arithmetic mode
• Shared arithmetic mode

Up to eight data inputs from the LAB local interconnect are inputs to the combinational logic.

The ALM can support certain combinations of completely independent functions and various combinations of functions that have common inputs.

The Intel^® Quartus^® Prime Compiler automatically selects the inputs to the LUT. ALMs in normal mode support register packing.

For the packing of two five-input functions into one ALM, the functions must have at least two common inputs. The common inputs are dataa and datab. The combination of a four-input function with a five-input function requires one common input (either dataa or datab).

In the case of implementing two six-input functions in one ALM, four inputs must be shared and the combinational function must be the same. In a sparsely used device, functions that could be placed in one ALM may be implemented in separate ALMs by the Intel^® Quartus^® Prime software to achieve the best possible performance. As a device begins to fill up, the Intel^® Quartus^® Prime software automatically uses the full potential of the Intel^® Arria^® 10 ALM. The Intel^® Quartus^® Prime Compiler automatically searches for functions using common inputs or completely independent functions to be placed in one ALM to make efficient use of device resources. In addition, you can manually control resource use by setting location assignments.

You can implement any six-input function using the following inputs:

• dataa
• datab
• datac
• datad
• datae0 and dataf1, or datae1 and dataf0

If you use datae0 and dataf1 inputs, you can obtain the following outputs:

• Output driven to register0 or register0 is bypassed
• Output driven to register1 or register1 is bypassed

You can use the datae1 or dataf0 input, whichever is available, as the packed register input to register2 or register3.

If you use datae1 and dataf0 inputs, you can obtain the following outputs:

• Output driven to register2 or register2 is bypassed
• Output driven to register3 or register3 is bypassed

You can use the datae0 or dataf1 input, whichever is available, as the packed register input to register0 or register1.

A seven-input function can be implemented in a single ALM using the following inputs:

• dataa
• datab
• datac
• datad
• datae0
• datae1
• dataf0 or dataf1

If you use dataf0 input, you can obtain the following outputs:

• Output driven to register0 or register0 is bypassed
• Output driven to register1 or register1 is bypassed

You can use the dataf1 input as the packed register input to register2 or register3.

If you use dataf1 input, you can obtain the following outputs:

• Output driven to register2 or register2 is bypassed
• Output driven to register3 or register3 is bypassed

You can use the dataf0 input as the packed register input to register0 or register1.

The dedicated adders allow the LUTs to perform pre-adder logic; therefore, each adder can add the output of two four-input functions.

The ALM supports simultaneous use of the adder’s carry output along with combinational logic outputs. The adder output is ignored in this operation.

Using the adder with the combinational logic output provides resource savings of up to 50% for functions that can use this mode.

Arithmetic mode also offers clock enable, counter enable, synchronous up and down control, add and subtract control, synchronous clear, and synchronous load.

The LAB local interconnect data inputs generate the clock enable, counter enable, synchronous up/down, and add/subtract control signals. These control signals are good candidates for the inputs that are shared between the four LUTs in the ALM.

The synchronous clear and synchronous load options are LAB-wide signals that affect all registers in the LAB. You can individually disable or enable these signals for each register. The Intel^® Quartus^® Prime software automatically places any registers that are not used by the counter into other LABs.

This mode configures the ALM with four four-input LUTs. Each LUT either computes the sum of three inputs or the carry of three inputs. The output of the carry computation is fed to the next adder using a dedicated connection called the shared arithmetic chain.

Use the following techniques to manage static and dynamic power consumption within the LAB:

• Intel^® Arria^® 10 LABs operate in high-performance mode or low-power mode. The Intel^® Quartus^® Prime software automatically optimizes the LAB power consumption mode based on your design.
• Clocks, especially LAB clocks, consumes a significant portion of dynamic power. Each LAB's clock and clock enable signals are linked and can be controlled by a shared, gated clock. Use the LAB-wide clock enable signal to gate the LAB-wide clock without disabling the entire clock tree. In your HDL code for registered logic, use a clock-enable construct.

The embedded memory blocks in the devices are flexible and designed to provide an optimal amount of small- and large-sized memory arrays to fit your design requirements.

The Intel^® Arria^® 10 devices contain two types of memory blocks:

• 20 Kb M20K blocks—blocks of dedicated memory resources. The M20K blocks are ideal for larger memory arrays while still providing a large number of independent ports.
• 640 bit memory logic array blocks (MLABs)—enhanced memory blocks that are configured from dual-purpose logic array blocks (LABs). The MLABs are ideal for wide and shallow memory arrays. The MLABs are optimized for implementation of shift registers for digital signal processing (DSP) applications, wide and shallow FIFO buffers, and filter delay lines. Each MLAB is made up of ten adaptive logic modules (ALMs). In the Intel^® Arria^® 10 devices, you can configure these ALMs as ten 32 x 2 blocks, giving you one 32 x 20 simple dual-port SRAM block per MLAB.

There are several considerations that require your attention to ensure the success of your designs. Unless noted otherwise, these design guidelines apply to all variants of this device family.

The Intel^® Quartus^® Prime software automatically partitions the user-defined memory into the memory blocks based on your design's speed and size constraints. For example, the Intel^® Quartus^® Prime software may spread out the memory across multiple available memory blocks to increase the performance of the design.

To assign the memory to a specific block size manually, use the RAM IP core in the parameter editor.

For the MLABs, you can implement single-port SRAM through emulation using the Intel^® Quartus^® Prime software. Emulation results in minimal additional use of logic resources.

Because of the dual purpose architecture of the MLAB, only data input registers, output registers, and write address registers are available in the block. The MLABs gain read address registers from the ALMs.

In the true dual-port RAM mode, you can perform two write operations to the same memory location. However, the memory blocks do not have internal conflict resolution circuitry. To avoid unknown data being written to the address, implement external conflict resolution logic to the memory block.

Customize the read-during-write behavior of the memory blocks to suit your design requirements.

Consider the power up state of the different types of memory blocks if you are designing logic that evaluates the initial power-up values, as listed in the following table.

By default, the Intel^® Quartus^® Prime software initializes the RAM cells in Intel^® Arria^® 10 devices to zero unless you specify a .mif.

All memory blocks support initialization with a .mif. You can create .mif files in the Intel^® Quartus^® Prime software and specify their use with the RAM IP core when you instantiate a memory in your design. Even if a memory is pre-initialized (for example, using a .mif), it still powers up with its output cleared.

Reduce AC power consumption of each memory block in your design:

• Use Intel^® Arria^® 10 memory block clock-enables to allow you to control clocking of each memory block.
• Use the read-enable signal to ensure that read operations occur only when necessary. If your design does not require read-during-write, you can reduce your power consumption by deasserting the read-enable signal during write operations, or during the period when no memory operations occur.
• Use the Intel^® Quartus^® Prime software to automatically place any unused memory blocks in low-power mode to reduce static power.

This section describes the clocking modes for the Intel^® Arria^® 10 memory blocks.

In the single clock mode, a single clock, together with a clock enable, controls all registers of the memory block.

In the read/write clock mode, a separate clock is available for each read and write port. A read clock controls the data-output, read-address, and read-enable registers. A write clock controls the data-input, write-address, write-enable, and byte enable registers.

In input/output clock mode, a separate clock is available for each input and output port. An input clock controls all registers related to the data input to the memory block including data, address, byte enables, read enables, and write enables. An output clock controls the data output registers.

In the independent clock mode, a separate clock is available for each port (A and B). Clock A controls all registers on the port A side; clock B controls all registers on the port B side.

In all clocking modes, asynchronous clears are available only for output latches and output registers. For the independent clock mode, this is applicable on both ports.

If you perform a simultaneous read/write to the same address location using the read/write clock mode, the output read data is unknown. If you require the output read data to be a known value, use single-clock or input/output clock mode and select the appropriate read-during-write behavior in the IP core parameter editor.

Independent clock enables are supported in the following clocking modes:

• Read/write clock mode—supported for both the read and write clocks.
• Independent clock mode—supported for the registers of both ports.

To save power, you can control the shut down of a particular register using the clock enables.

The embedded memory blocks support byte enable controls:

• The byte enable controls mask the input data so that only specific bytes of data are written. The unwritten bytes retain the values written previously.
• The write enable (wren) signal, together with the byte enable (byteena) signal, control the write operations on the RAM blocks. By default, the byteena signal is high (enabled) and only the wren signal controls the writing.
• The byte enable registers do not have a clear port.
• If you are using parity bits, on the M20K blocks, the byte enable function controls 8 data bits and 2 parity bits; on the MLABs, the byte enable function controls all 10 bits in the widest mode.
• The LSB of the byteena signal corresponds to the LSB of the data bus.
• The byte enable signals are active high.

In M20K blocks or MLABs, when you set a byte-enable bit to 0, the embedded memory IP sets the corresponding data byte output to a “don't care” value. You must ensure that the option Get X's for write masked bytes instead of old data when byte enable is always selected.

The M20K memory blocks support packed mode.

The packed mode feature packs two independent single-port RAM blocks into one memory block. The Intel^® Quartus^® Prime software automatically implements packed mode where appropriate by placing the physical RAM block in true dual-port mode and using the MSB of the address to distinguish between the two logical RAM blocks. The size of each independent single-port RAM must not exceed half of the target block size.

The M20K memory blocks support asynchronous clear on output latches and output registers. If your RAM does not use output registers, clear the RAM outputs using the output latch asynchronous clear.

The clear is an asynchronous signal and it is generated at any time. The internal logic extends the clear pulse until the next rising edge of the output clock. When the clear is asserted, the outputs are cleared and stay cleared until the next read cycle.

ECC allows you to detect and correct data errors at the output of the memory. ECC can perform single-error correction, double-adjacent-error correction, and triple-adjacent-error detection in a 32-bit word. However, ECC cannot detect four or more errors.

The M20K blocks have built-in support for ECC when in x32-wide simple dual-port mode:

• The M20K runs slower than non-ECC simple-dual port mode when ECC is engaged. However, you can enable optional ECC pipeline registers before the output decoder to achieve higher performance compared to non-pipeline ECC mode at the expense of one cycle of latency.
• The M20K ECC status is communicated with two ECC status flag signals—e (error) and ue (uncorrectable error). The status flags are part of the regular output from the memory block. When ECC is engaged, you cannot access two of the parity bits because the ECC status flag replaces them.

This chapter describes how the variable-precision digital signal processing (DSP) blocks in Intel^® Arria^® 10 devices are optimized to support higher bit precision in high-performance DSP applications.

You should consider the following elements in your design:

The Intel^® Quartus^® Prime software includes IP cores that you can use to control the operation mode of the multipliers. After entering the parameter settings with the IP Catalog, the Intel^® Quartus^® Prime software automatically configures the variable precision DSP block.

Variable-precision DSP block can also be implemented using DSP Builder for Intel^® FPGAs and OpenCL™.

When you enable input register for the pre-adder feature, these input registers must have the same clock setting.

The input cascade support is only available for 18-bit mode when you enable the pre-adder feature.

In both 18-bit and 27-bit modes, you can use the coefficient feature and pre-adder feature independently.

When internal coefficient feature is enabled in 18-bit modes, you must enable both top and bottom coefficient.

When pre-adder feature is enabled in 18-bit modes, you must enable both top and bottom pre-adder.

The two delay registers along with the input cascade chain that can be used in fixed-point arithmetic 18 x 19 mode are the top delay registers and bottom delay registers. Delay registers are not supported in 18 × 19 multiplication summed with 36-bit input mode and 27 × 27 mode.

Pipeline register is used to get the maximum Fmax performance. Pipeline register can be bypassed if high Fmax is not needed.

The Intel^® Arria^® 10 variable precision DSP block has the flexibility of selecting the multiplicand from either the dynamic input or the internal coefficient.

The internal coefficient can support up to eight constant coefficients for the multiplicands in 18-bit and 27-bit modes. When you enable the internal coefficient feature, COEFSELA/COEFSELB are used to control the selection of the coefficient multiplexer.

There are two systolic registers per variable precision DSP block. If the variable precision DSP block is not configured in fixed-point arithmetic systolic FIR mode, both systolic registers are bypassed.

The first set of systolic registers consists of 18-bit and 19-bit registers that are used to register the 18-bit and 19-bit inputs of the upper multiplier, respectively.

The second set of systolic registers are used to delay the chainin input from the previous variable precision DSP block.

You must clock all the systolic registers with the same clock source as the output register. Output registers must be turned on.

The double accumulation register is an extra register in the feedback path of the accumulator. Enabling the double accumulation register causes an extra clock cycle delay in the feedback path of the accumulator.

This register has the same CLK, ENA, and ACLR settings as the output register bank.

By enabling this register, you can have two accumulator channels using the same number of variable precision DSP block. This is useful when processing interleaved complex data (I, Q).

This section describes how you can configure an Intel^® Arria^® 10 variable precision DSP block to efficiently support the fixed-point arithmetic and floating-point arithmetic operational modes.

The following figure shows that the user view of the systolic FIR filter (a) can be implemented using the Intel^® Arria^® 10 variable precision DSP blocks (d) by retiming the register and restructuring the adder. Register B can be retimed into systolic registers at the chainin, dataa_y0 and dataa_x0 input paths as shown in (b). The end result of the register retiming is shown in (c). The summation of two multiplier results by restructuring the inputs and location of the adder are added to the chainin input by the chainout adder as shown in (d).

This mode allows you to apply basic floating-point multiplication (y*z).

This mode allows you to apply basic floating-point addition (x+y) or basic floating-point subtraction (y-x).

This mode performs floating-point multiplication followed by floating-point addition with the previous multiplication result { ((y*z) + acc) or ((y*z) - acc) }

This mode performs floating-point multiplication followed by floating-point addition or floating-point subtraction { ((y*z) + x) or ((y*z) - x) }. The chainin parameter allows you to enable a multiple-chain mode.

This mode performs floating-point multiplication followed by floating-point addition with the chainin input from the previous variable DSP Block. Input x is directly fed into chainout. (result = y*z + chainin , where chainout = x)

This mode performs floating-point multiplication where the multiplication result is directly fed to chainout. The chainin input from the previous variable DSP Block is then added to input x as the output result. (result = x + chainin, where chainout = y*z)

The Intel^® Arria^® 10 devices support the floating-point arithmetic single precision complex multiplier using four Intel^® Arria^® 10 variable-precision DSP blocks.

The imaginary part [(a × d) + (b × c)] is implemented in the first two variable-precision DSP blocks, while the real part [(a × c) - (b × d)] is implemented in the second variable-precision DSP block.

This chapter describes the advanced features of hierarchical clock networks and phase-locked loops (PLLs) in Intel^® Arria^® 10 devices. The Intel^® Quartus^® Prime software enables the PLLs and their features without external devices.

The Intel^® Arria^® 10 devices contain the following clock networks that are organized into a hierarchical structure:

• Global clock (GCLK) networks
• Regional clock (RCLK) networks
• Periphery clock (PCLK) networks
  • Small periphery clock (SPCLK) networks
  • Large periphery clock (LPCLK) networks

Intel^® Arria^® 10 devices cover 3 levels of clock networks hierarchy. The sequence of the hierarchy is as follows:

1. GCLK, RCLK, PCLK, and GCLK and RCLK feedback clocks
2. Section clock (SCLK)
3. Row clocks

Each HSSI and I/O column contains clock drivers to drive down shared buses to the respective GCLK, RCLK, and PCLK clock networks.

Intel^® Arria^® 10 clock networks (GCLK, RCLK, and PCLK) are routed through SCLK before each clock is connected to the clock routing for each HSSI or I/O bank. The settings for SCLK are transparent. The Intel^® Quartus^® Prime software automatically routes the SCLK based on the GCLK, RCLK, and PCLK networks.

Each SCLK spine has a consistent height, matching that of HSSI and I/O banks. The number of SCLK spine in a device depends on the number of HSSI and I/O banks.

Intel^® Arria^® 10 devices provide a maximum of 33 SCLK networks in the SCLK spine region. The SCLK networks can drive six row clocks in each row clock region. The row clocks are the clock resources to the core functional blocks, PLLs, and I/O interfaces, and HSSI interfaces of the device. Six unique signals can be routed into each row clock region. The connectivity pattern of the multiplexers that drive each SCLK limits the clock sources to the SCLK spine region. Each SCLK can select the clock resources from GCLK, RCLK, LPCLK, or SPCLK lines.

The following figure shows SCLKs driven by the GCLK, RCLK, PCLK, or GCLK and RCLK feedback clock networks in each SCLK spine region. The GCLK, RCLK, PCLK, and GCLK and RCLK feedback clocks share the same SCLK routing resources. To ensure successful design fitting in the Intel^® Quartus^® Prime software, the total number of clock resources must not exceed the SCLK limits in each SCLK spine region.

GCLK networks serve as low-skew clock sources for functional blocks, such as adaptive logic modules (ALMs), digital signal processing (DSP), embedded memory, and PLLs. Intel^® Arria^® 10 I/O elements (IOEs) and internal logic can also drive GCLKs to create internally-generated global clocks and other high fan-out control signals, such as synchronous or asynchronous clear and clock enable signals.

Intel^® Arria^® 10 devices provide GCLKs that can drive throughout the device. GCLKs cover every SCLK spine region in the device. Each GCLK is accessible through the direction as indicated in the Symbolic GCLK Networks diagram.

RCLK networks provide low clock insertion delay and skew for logic contained within a single RCLK region. The Intel^® Arria^® 10 IOEs and internal logic within a given region can also drive RCLKs to create internally-generated regional clocks and other high fan-out signals.

Intel^® Arria^® 10 devices provide RCLKs that can drive through the chip horizontally. RCLKs cover all the SCLK spine regions in the same row of the device. The top and bottom HSSI and I/O banks have RCLKs that cover 2 rows vertically. The other intermediate HSSI and I/O banks have RCLKs that cover 6 rows vertically. The following figure shows the RCLK network coverage.

PCLK networks provide the lowest insertion delay and the same skew as RCLK networks.

This section describes the clock network sources that can drive the GCLK, RCLK, and PCLK networks.

You can drive each GCLK and RCLK network using core routing to enable internal logic to drive a high fan-out, low-skew signal.

Each DPA can drive the PCLK networks.

HSSI clock outputs can drive the GCLK, RCLK, and PCLK networks.

The fPLL and I/O PLL clock outputs can drive all clock networks.

Every GCLK, RCLK, and PCLK network has its own clock control block. The control block provides the following features:

• Clock source selection (dynamic selection available only for GCLKs)
• Clock power down (static or dynamic clock enable or disable available only for GCLKs and RCLKs)

You can select the clock source for the GCLK select block either statically or dynamically using internal logic to drive the multiplexer-select inputs.

When selecting the clock source dynamically, you can select either PLL outputs (such as C0 or C1), or a combination of clock pins or PLL outputs.

You can set the input clock sources and the clkena signals for the GCLK network multiplexers through the Intel^® Quartus^® Prime software using the ALTCLKCTRL IP core.

When selecting the clock source dynamically using the ALTCLKCTRL IP core, choose the inputs using the CLKSELECT[0..1] signal.

You can only control the clock source selection for the RCLK select block statically using configuration bit settings in the configuration file (.sof or .pof) generated by the Intel^® Quartus^® Prime software.

You can set the input clock sources and the clkena signals for the RCLK networks through the Intel^® Quartus^® Prime software using the ALTCLKCTRL IP core.

PCLK control block drives both SPCLK and LPCLK networks.

To drive the HSSI PCLK, select the HSSI output, fPLL output, or clock input pin.

To drive the I/O PCLK, select the DPA clock output, I/O PLL output, or clock input pin.

You can set the input clock sources and the clkena signals for the PCLK networks through the Intel^® Quartus^® Prime software using the ALTCLKCTRL IP core.

You can power down the GCLK and RCLK clock networks using both static and dynamic approaches.

When a clock network is powered down, all the logic fed by the clock network is in off-state, reducing the overall power consumption of the device. The unused GCLK, RCLK, and PCLK networks are automatically powered down through configuration bit settings in the configuration file (.sof or .pof) generated by the Intel^® Quartus^® Prime software.

The dynamic clock enable or disable feature allows the internal logic to control power-up or power-down synchronously on the GCLK and RCLK networks. This feature is independent of the PLL and is applied directly on the clock network.

You cannot use the clock enable and disable circuit of the clock control block if the GCLK or RCLK output drives the input of a PLL.

The clkena signals are supported at the clock network level instead of at the PLL output counter level. This allows you to gate off the clock even when you are not using a PLL. You can also use the clkena signals to control the dedicated external clocks from the PLLs.

Intel^® Arria^® 10 devices have an additional metastability register that aids in asynchronous enable and disable of the GCLK and RCLK networks. You can optionally bypass this register in the Intel^® Quartus^® Prime software.

The PLL can remain locked, independent of the clkena signals, because the loop-related counters are not affected. This feature is useful for applications that require a low-power or sleep mode. The clkena signal can also disable clock outputs if the system is not tolerant of frequency overshoot during resynchronization.

fPLLs are optimized for use as transceiver transmit PLLs and for synthesizing reference clock frequencies. You can use the fPLLs as follows:

• Reduce the number of required oscillators on the board
• Reduce the clock pins used in the FPGA by synthesizing multiple clock frequencies from a single reference clock source
• Compensate clock network delay
• Transmit clocking for transceivers

I/O PLLs are optimized for use with memory interfaces and LVDS SERDES. You can use the I/O PLLs as follows:

• Reduce the number of required oscillators on the board
• Reduce the clock pins used in the FPGA by synthesizing multiple clock frequencies from a single reference clock source
• Simplify the design of external memory interfaces and high-speed LVDS interfaces
• Ease timing closure because the I/O PLLs are tightly coupled with the I/Os
• Compensate clock network delay
• Zero delay buffering

You can use the reset signal to control PLL operation and resynchronization, and use the locked signal to observe the status of the PLL.

The reset signal port of the IP core for each PLL is as follows:

• fPLL—pll_powerdown
• I/O PLL—reset

The reset signal is the reset or resynchronization input for each PLL. The device input pins or internal logic can drive these input signals.

When the reset signal is driven high, the PLL counters reset, clearing the PLL output and placing the PLL out-of-lock. The VCO is then set back to its nominal setting. When the reset signal is driven low again, the PLL resynchronizes to its input clock source as it re-locks.

You must assert the reset signal every time the PLL loses lock to guarantee the correct phase relationship between the PLL input and output clocks. You can set up the PLL to automatically reset (self-reset) after a loss-of-lock condition using the Intel^® Quartus^® Prime parameter editor.

You must include the reset signal if either of the following conditions is true:

• PLL reconfiguration or clock switchover is enabled in the design
• Phase relationships between the PLL input and output clocks must be maintained after a loss-of-lock condition

The locked signal port of the IP core for each PLL is as follows:

• fPLL—pll_locked
• I/O PLL—locked

The lock detection circuit provides a signal to the core logic. The signal indicates when the feedback clock has locked onto the reference clock both in phase and frequency.

Clock feedback modes compensate for clock network delays to align the PLL clock input rising edge with the rising edge of the clock output. Select the appropriate type of compensation for the timing critical clock path in your design.

PLL compensation is not always needed. A PLL should be configured in direct (no compensation) mode unless a need for compensation is identified. Direct mode provides the best PLL jitter performance and avoids expending compensation clocking resources unnecessarily.

The default clock feedback mode is direct compensation mode.

fPLLs support the following clock feedback modes:

• Direct compensation
• Feedback compensation bonding

I/O PLLs support the following clock feedback modes:

• Direct compensation
• Normal compensation
• Source synchronous compensation
• LVDS compensation
• Zero delay buffer (ZDB) compensation
• External feedback (EFB) compensation

An Intel^® Arria^® 10 PLL output frequency is related to its input reference clock source by a scale factor of M/(N × C) in integer mode. The input clock is divided by a pre-scale factor, N, and is then multiplied by the M feedback factor. The control loop drives the VCO to match f_in × (M/N).

The Intel^® Quartus^® Prime software automatically chooses the appropriate scale factors according to the input frequency, multiplication, and division values entered into the Altera IOPLL IP core for I/O PLL and Arria 10 FPLL IP core for fPLL.

The programmable phase shift feature allows both fPLLs and I/O PLLs to generate output clocks with a fixed phase offset.

The VCO frequency of the PLL determines the precision of the phase shift. The minimum phase shift increment is 1/8 (for I/O PLL) or 1/4 (for fPLL) of the VCO period. For example, if an I/O PLL operates with a VCO frequency of 1000 MHz, phase shift steps of 125 ps are possible.

The Intel^® Quartus^® Prime software automatically adjusts the VCO frequency according to the user-specified phase shift values entered into the IP core.

The programmable duty cycle feature allows I/O PLLs to generate clock outputs with a variable duty cycle. This feature is only supported by the I/O PLL post-scale counters, C. fPLLs do not support the programmable duty cycle feature and only have fixed 50% duty cycle.

The I/O PLL C counter value determines the precision of the duty cycle. The precision is 50% divided by the post-scale counter value. For example, if the C0 counter is 10, steps of 5% are possible for duty-cycle options from 5% to 90%. If the I/O PLL is in external feedback mode, set the duty cycle for the counter driving the fbin pin to 50%.

The Intel^® Quartus^® Prime software automatically adjusts the VCO frequency according to the required duty cycle that you enter in the Intel^® FPGA IOPLL IP core parameter editor.

Combining the programmable duty cycle with programmable phase shift allows the generation of precise non-overlapping clocks.

Intel^® Arria^® 10 devices support PLL-to-PLL cascading. You can only cascade a maximum of two PLLs. The cascaded PLLs must be adjacent PLLs. PLL cascading synthesizes more output clock frequencies than a single PLL.

If you cascade PLLs in your design, the source (upstream) PLL must have a low-bandwidth setting and the destination (downstream) PLL must have a high-bandwidth setting. During cascading, the output of the source PLL serves as the reference clock (input) of the destination PLL. The bandwidth settings of cascaded PLLs must be different. If the bandwidth settings of the cascaded PLLs are the same, the cascaded PLLs may amplify phase noise at certain frequencies.

Intel^® Arria^® 10 devices only support I/O-PLL-to-I/O-PLL cascading via dedicated cascade path for core applications. In this mode, upstream I/O PLL and downstream I/O PLL must be located within the same I/O column.

Intel^® Arria^® 10 fPLL does not support PLL cascading mode for core applications.

There are three possible reference clock sources to the I/O PLL. The clock can come from a dedicated pin, a core clock network, or the dedicated cascade network.

Intel recommends providing the I/O PLL reference clock using a dedicated pin when possible. If you want to use a non-dedicated pin for the PLL reference clock, you have to explicitly promote the clock to a global signal in the Intel^® Quartus^® Prime software.

You can provide up to two reference clocks to the I/O PLL.

• Both reference clocks can come from dedicated pins.
• Only one reference clock can come from a core clock.
• Only one reference clock can come from a dedicated cascade network.

You need to ensure that the PLL input reference clock is in the lock range as stated in the Intel^® Quartus^® Prime PLL Usage Summary under Fitter report. PLL loses lock if the input reference clock exceeds the stated range value. You need to reconfigure the PLL if the input reference clock that you are sourcing exceeds this frequency lock range.

The clock switchover feature allows the PLL to switch between two reference input clocks. Use this feature for clock redundancy or for a dual-clock domain application where a system turns to the redundant clock if the previous clock stops running. The design can perform clock switchover automatically when the clock is no longer toggling or based on a user control signal, extswitch.

Intel^® Arria^® 10 PLLs support the following clock switchover modes:

• Automatic switchover—The clock sense circuit monitors the current reference clock. If the current reference clock stops toggling, the reference clock automatically switches to inclk0 or inclk1 clock.
• Manual clock switchover—Clock switchover is controlled using the extswitch signal. When the extswitch signal pulse stays low for at least three clock cycles for the inclk being switched to, the reference clock to the PLL is switched from inclk0 to inclk1, or vice-versa.
• Automatic switchover with manual override—This mode combines automatic switchover and manual clock switchover. When the extswitch signal goes low, it overrides the automatic clock switchover function. As long as the extswitch signal is low, further switchover action is blocked.

Intel^® Arria^® 10 PLLs support a fully configurable clock switchover capability.

When the current reference clock is not present, the clock sense block automatically switches to the backup clock for PLL reference. You can select a clock source as the backup clock by connecting it to the inclk1 port of the PLL in your design.

The clock switchover circuit sends out three status signals—clkbad0, clkbad1, and activeclock—from the PLL to implement a custom switchover circuit in the logic array.

In automatic switchover mode, the clkbad0 and clkbad1 signals indicate the status of the two clock inputs. When they are asserted, the clock sense block detects that the corresponding clock input has stopped toggling. These two signals are not valid if the frequency difference between inclk0 and inclk1 is greater than 20%.

The activeclock signal indicates which of the two clock inputs (inclk0 or inclk1) is being selected as the reference clock to the PLL. When the frequency difference between the two clock inputs is more than 20%, the activeclock signal is the only valid status signal.

Use the switchover circuitry to automatically switch between inclk0 and inclk1 when the current reference clock to the PLL stops toggling. You can switch back and forth between inclk0 and inclk1 any number of times when one of the two clocks fails and the other clock is available.

For example, in applications that require a redundant clock with the same frequency as the reference clock, the switchover state machine generates a signal (clksw) that controls the multiplexer select input. In this case, inclk1 becomes the reference clock for the PLL.

When using automatic clock switchover mode, the following requirements must be satisfied:

• Both clock inputs must be running when the FPGA is configured.
• The period of the two clock inputs can differ by no more than 20%.

The input clocks must meet the input jitter specifications to ensure proper operation of the status signals. Glitches in the input clock may be seen as a greater than 20% difference in frequency between the input clocks.

If the current clock input stops toggling while the other clock is also not toggling, switchover is not initiated and the clkbad[0..1] signals are not valid. If both clock inputs are not the same frequency, but their period difference is within 20%, the clock sense block detects when a clock stops toggling. However, the PLL may lose lock after the switchover is completed and needs time to relock.

In automatic switchover with manual override mode, you can use the extswitch signal for user- or system-controlled switch conditions. You can use this mode for same-frequency switchover, or to switch between inputs of different frequencies.

For example, if inclk0 is 66 MHz and inclk1 is 200 MHz, you must control switchover using the extswitch signal. The automatic clock-sense circuitry cannot monitor clock input (inclk0 and inclk1) frequencies with a frequency difference of more than 100% (2×).

This feature is useful when the clock sources originate from multiple cards on the backplane, requiring a system-controlled switchover between the frequencies of operation.

You must choose the backup clock frequency and set the M, N, C, L, and K counters so that the VCO operates within the recommended operating frequency range. The Altera IOPLL (for I/O PLL) and Arria 10 FPLL (for fPLL) parameter editors notifies you if a given combination of inclk0 and inclk1 frequencies cannot meet this requirement.

In automatic override with manual switchover mode, the activeclock signal inverts after the extswitch signal transitions from logic high to logic low. Since both clocks are still functional during the manual switch, neither clkbad signal goes high. Because the switchover circuit is negative-edge sensitive, the rising edge of the extswitch signal does not cause the circuit to switch back from inclk1 to inclk0. When the extswitch signal goes low again, the process repeats.

The extswitch signal and automatic switch work only if the clock being switched to is available. If the clock is not available, the state machine waits until the clock is available.

In manual clock switchover mode, the extswitch signal controls whether inclk0 or inclk1 is selected as the input clock to the PLL. By default, inclk0 is selected.

A clock switchover event is initiated when the extswitch signal transitions from logic high to logic low, and being held low for at least three inclk cycles for the inclk being switched to.

You must bring the extswitch signal back high again to perform another switchover event. If you do not require another switchover event, you can leave the extswitch signal in a logic low state after the initial switch.

Pulsing the extswitch signal low for at least three inclk cycles for the inclk being switched to performs another switchover event.

If inclk0 and inclk1 are different frequencies and are always running, the extswitch signal minimum low time must be greater than or equal to three of the slower frequency inclk0 and inclk1 cycles.

You can delay the clock switchover action by specifying the switchover delay in the Altera IOPLL (for I/O PLL) and Arria 10 FPLL (for fPLL) IP cores. When you specify the switchover delay, the extswitch signal must be held low for at least three inclk cycles for the inclk being switched to plus the number of the delay cycles that has been specified to initiate a clock switchover.

fPLLs and I/O PLLs support PLL reconfiguration and dynamic phase shift with the following features:

• PLL reconfiguration—Reconfigure the M, N, and C counters. Able to reconfigure the fractional settings (for fPLL).
• Dynamic phase shift—Perform positive or negative phase shift. fPLLs support only single phase step in one dynamic phase shift operation, where each phase step is equal to 1/4 of the VCO period. I/O PLLs support multiple phase steps in one dynamic phase shift operation, where each phase step is equal to 1/8 of the VCO period.

The Intel^® Arria^® 10 I/Os support the following features:

• Single-ended, non-voltage-referenced, and voltage-referenced I/O standards
• Low-voltage differential signaling (LVDS), RSDS, mini-LVDS, HSTL, HSUL, SSTL, and POD I/O standards
• Serializer/deserializer (SERDES)
• Programmable output current strength
• Programmable slew rate
• Programmable bus-hold
• Programmable weak pull-up resistor
• Programmable pre-emphasis for DDR4 and LVDS standards
• Programmable I/O delay
• Programmable differential output voltage (V_OD)
• Open-drain output
• On-chip series termination (R_S OCT) with and without calibration
• On-chip parallel termination (R_T OCT)
• On-chip differential termination (R_D OCT)
• HSTL and SSTL input buffer with dynamic power down
• Dynamic on-chip parallel termination for all I/O banks
• Internally generated V_REF with DDR4 calibration

• Intel^® FPGA GPIO—supports operations of the GPIO components.
• Intel^® FPGA LVDS SERDES—supports operations of the high-speed source-synchronous SERDES.
• Intel FPGA OCT—supports the OCT calibration block.
• Intel FPGA PHYlite for Parallel Interfaces —supports dynamic OCT and I/O delays for strobe-based capture I/O elements. This IP core can also be used for generic source synchronous interfaces using single ended I/O.

The I/O pins in Intel^® Arria^® 10 devices are arranged in groups called I/O banks:

• The I/O banks have independent supplies that allow each bank to support different I/O standards.
• Each I/O bank can support multiple I/O standards that use the same voltage.