Clock tree synthesis for multi-chip modules

Abstract

While designing interconnect for MCMs, one must take into consideration the distributed RLC effects, due to which signals may display nonmonotonic behavior and substantial ringing. This paper considers the problem of designing clock trees for MCMs. A fully distributed RLC model is utilized for AWE-based analysis and synthesis, and appropriate measures are taken to ensure adequate signal damping and for buffer insertion to satisfy constraints on the clock signal slew rate. Experimental results, verified by SPICE simulations, show that this method can be used to build clock trees with near-zero skews.