Minimum delay optimization for domino logic circuits - A coupling-aware approach

Abstract

Minimum delay associated with the hold time requirement is of concern to circuit designers, since race-through hazards are inherent in any multiple clock organization or clock distribution tree irrespective of clock frequency. The monotonic property of domino logic aggravates the min-delay path failure through coupling-induced speedup. To tackle the min-delay problem for domino logic, we propose a min-delay optimization algorithm considering coupling effects. Experimental results indicate that our algorithm yields a significant increase of min-delay without incurring max-delay violation.