Oscillatory metastability in homogeneous and inhomogeneous flip-flops

Author

Reyneri, Leonardo M. ; Del Corso, D. ; Sacco, Bruno

Author_Institution

Dipartimento di Elettronica, Politecnico di Torino, Italy

Volume

25

Issue

1

fYear

1990

fDate

2/1/1990 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

254

Lastpage

264

Abstract

Models which describe oscillatory metastability for several types of flip-flops are proposed. A constant-slew-rate model is first used to find the bounds on circuit parameters which discriminate between analog and oscillatory metastability. A variable-slew-rate model is then used to evaluate resolving time as a function of input timing. Two classes of flip-flops, homogeneous and inhomogeneous, are defined, and their performances in terms of resolving time are compared. It is shown that, in many cases, inhomogeneous flip-flops provide significant improvements with respect to resolving time when oscillatory metastability is involved. The analytical results are verified by comparison with SPICE simulation results

Keywords

flip-flops; logic circuits; modelling; network parameters; stability; SPICE simulation; circuit parameters; constant-slew-rate model; flip-flops; homogeneous type; inhomogeneous type; input timing; oscillatory metastability; resolving time; variable-slew-rate model; Analytical models; Circuits; Flip-flops; Inverters; Logic devices; Metastasis; Performance analysis; Strontium; Threshold voltage; Timing;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Solid-State Circuits, IEEE Journal of

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9200

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/4.50312

Filename

50312