Skew measurements in clock distribution circuits using an analytic signal method

This paper presents the application of a new analytic signal method for measuring several different kinds of clock skew in the clock distribution network of microprocessors. First, key terms are defined, and other existing skew measurement methods are reviewed. Then, detailed steps are given for applying the new method for measuring skew between a master and distributed clocks, between two distributed clocks, and between different frequency clocks that are related by frequency division. An indirect procedure for measuring deterministic clock skew is also proposed. Next, the new method is validated with experimental data from a prototype microprocessor test. Performance comparison is performed between the analytic signal method and the two-probe method. Finally, the measurement requirements of the proposed analytic signal method are compared with those of conventional methods.