Axcelerator PLL

Features

Family Support

Axcelerator

Description

The Axcelerator PLL has three main features. They are:

Clock Delay Minimization

In this mode the PLL can perform either a positive or negative clock delay operation of up to 3.75ns in increments of 250ps before or after the clock edge of the incoming reference clock. The value of the delay is programmable via the five bits of the DelayLine bus.

Clock Frequency Synthesis

The multiplier and divider can be used together to synthesize a wide range of output frequencies from the reference clock. Input frequencies are allowed to be in the range of 14 MHz to 200 MHz. Multiplication and division factors are integers in the range of 1 to 64. The maximum allowable output frequency is 1 GHz. The output duty cycle is fixed at 50/50.

Cascading Blocks

The device supports cascading of up to 2 PLLs.

Port Description

Name

Size

Type

Req/Opt

Function

RefClk

1

Input

Req.

Reference Clock

PWRDN

1

Input

Req.

Power Down

Lock

1

Output

Req.

PLL Lock

FB

1

Input

Opt.

Feedback (only external feedback)

CLK(freq)

1

Output

Opt.

Clk1 with the required freq

CLK(freq)

1

Output

Opt.

CLK2 with the required freq

Parameter Description

Parameter

Value

Function

LPMTYPE

LPMPLL

PLL category

LPM_HINT

PRIM

Only primary output

SEC

Only secondary output

BOTH

Both outputs

FB

Internal External

Feedback

IFREQ

14.0 - 200.0 MHz

Input Frequency

PFREQ

14.0 - 1000.0

Primary Clock frequency

SFREQ

14.0 - 1000.0

Secondary Clock frequency

DT

STATIC DYNAMIC

Delay type

DELAYSIGN

+ve -ve

Positive or negative delay

DELAYVALUE

0 - 3.75 ns

In steps of 250 psA

CASCADE

YES NO

Cascade two PLLs to achieve the required output fre­quency

REFCLKPAD

DEDICATED EXTERNAL

Source of REFCLK, the Dedicated Pad, or any external net

CLK1OUT

HW RC RN

Clock network to which PLL is connected, Hard­wired Clock, Routed Clock, or Routed Net

A. In the GUI, the delay is entered directly as a value between -3.75 and +3.75 without breaking it into sign and value.

Description

The Axcelerator family provides eight PLLs, four on the north side and four on the south side of the device. The outputs of the north-side PLLs can be connected to either hard-wired clock networks or regular nets. The outputs of the south-side PLLs can be connected to either routed clock networks or regular nets. The Axcelerator family PLLs have many outstanding features, including the following:

Refclk is the reference input to the PLL. The frequency of Refclk can vary from 14 MHz to 200 MHz. The reference can be supplied from a dedicated pad or an internal net.  

You can select to have an internal or external feedback. Selecting an external feedback adds a port (named FB) to the PLL block, through which the external feedback is passed into the PLL and the internal feedback is blocked.

Clk(freq) are the output signals from the PLL. The CLK(primary) is defined as refclk * i/j where i is the multiplier and j is the divider. CLK(secondary) is defined as refclk * i.

Cascading

Cascading is an option that helps you generate a wider range of output frequencies. If cascading is set to No and the output frequency is chosen as a value that cannot be achieved by fREF * i/j, then the PLL will try to set i and j in order to reach to the closest vicinity of the desired frequency. If cascading is set to Yes, then for the conditions in which the desired frequency is unattainable by a single PLL, another PLL will be cascaded to the first PLL and then the final output frequency is:

In cascading PLLs, the input frequency of each PLL should remain in the range of 14 MHz to 200 MHz.

You must specify the desired output frequencies and the networks that the outputs should drive for the PLL outputs CLK1 and CLK2. Note that if cascading is disabled, the CLK2 frequency can only be a multiple of the reference frequency. As mentioned earlier, if the selected values for output frequencies cannot be achieved, they will be set to the closest possible frequency.

For each output, there are three routing resources. Hard-wired is the HCLK network which reaches to the clock input of R-cells. Selecting a hard-wired output for the PLL implies that the PLL should be located at the north side of the device. If one of the outputs is connected to hard-wired global network, the routed clock network cannot be chosen as the second output because the routed clock network is only accessible by the PLLs on the south side. SmartGen helps you select the output type by keeping the possible outputs active and disabling the illegal combinations.

Basic Axcelerator PLL Architecture

Message Log

All the parameters specified by the user and the values calculated by SmartGen are saved in the <design>.log file (below).

For more detailed information on the various features of the Axcelerator PLL, please refer to the Axcelerator Family PLL and Clock Management at http://www.actel.com.