Clocks are fundamental to building digital circuits as it allows different blocks to be in sync with each other.
Properties of a clock
The key properties of a digital clock are its frequency which determines the clock period, its duty cycle and the clock phase in relation to other clocks.
Clock Period
The frequency indicates how many cycles can be found in a certain period of time. And hence the clock period is the time taken to complete 1 cycle.
Clock Duty Cycle
The amount of time the clock is high compared to its time period defines the duty cycle.
Clock Phase
If one cycle of a clock can be viewed as a complete circle with 360 deg, another clock can be relatively placed at a different place in the circle that occupy a different phase. For example, another clock of the same time period that is shifted to the right by 1/4th of its period can be said to be at 90 deg in phase difference.
Verilog Clock Generator
Simulations are required to operate on a given timescale that has a limited precision as specified by the timescale directive. Hence it is important that the precision of timescale is good enough to represent a clock period. For example, if the frequency of the clock is set to 640000 kHz, then its clock period will be 1.5625 ns for which a timescale precision of 1ps will not suffice because there is an extra point to be represented. Hence simulation will round off the last digit to fit into the 3 point timescale precision. This will bump up the clock period to 1.563 which actually represents 639795 kHz !
The following Verilog clock generator module has three parameters to tweak the three different properties as discussed above. The module has an input enable that allows the clock to be disabled and enabled as required. When multiple clocks are controlled by a common enable signal, they can be relatively phased easily.
`timescale 1ns/1ps
module clock_gen ( input enable,
output reg clk);
parameter FREQ = 100000; // in kHZ
parameter PHASE = 0; // in degrees
parameter DUTY = 50; // in percentage
real clk_pd = 1.0/(FREQ * 1e3) * 1e9; // convert to ns
real clk_on = DUTY/100.0 * clk_pd;
real clk_off = (100.0 - DUTY)/100.0 * clk_pd;
real quarter = clk_pd/4;
real start_dly = quarter * PHASE/90;
reg start_clk;
initial begin
$display("FREQ = %0d kHz", FREQ);
$display("PHASE = %0d deg", PHASE);
$display("DUTY = %0d %%", DUTY);
$display("PERIOD = %0.3f ns", clk_pd);
$display("CLK_ON = %0.3f ns", clk_on);
$display("CLK_OFF = %0.3f ns", clk_off);
$display("QUARTER = %0.3f ns", quarter);
$display("START_DLY = %0.3f ns", start_dly);
end
// Initialize variables to zero
initial begin
clk <= 0;
start_clk <= 0;
end
// When clock is enabled, delay driving the clock to one in order
// to achieve the phase effect. start_dly is configured to the
// correct delay for the configured phase. When enable is 0,
// allow enough time to complete the current clock period
always @ (posedge enable or negedge enable) begin
if (enable) begin
#(start_dly) start_clk = 1;
end else begin
#(start_dly) start_clk = 0;
end
end
// Achieve duty cycle by a skewed clock on/off time and let this
// run as long as the clocks are turned on.
always @(posedge start_clk) begin
if (start_clk) begin
clk = 1;
while (start_clk) begin
#(clk_on) clk = 0;
#(clk_off) clk = 1;
end
clk = 0;
end
end
endmodule
Testbench with different clock frequencies
module tb;
wire clk1;
wire clk2;
wire clk3;
wire clk4;
reg enable;
reg [7:0] dly;
clock_gen u0(enable, clk1);
clock_gen #(.FREQ(200000)) u1(enable, clk2);
clock_gen #(.FREQ(400000)) u2(enable, clk3);
clock_gen #(.FREQ(800000)) u3(enable, clk4);
initial begin
enable <= 0;
for (int i = 0; i < 10; i= i+1) begin
dly = $random;
#(dly) enable <= ~enable;
$display("i=%0d dly=%0d", i, dly);
#50;
end
#50 $finish;
end
endmodule
xcelium> run FREQ = 100000 kHz PHASE = 0 deg DUTY = 50 % PERIOD = 10.000 ns CLK_ON = 5.000 ns CLK_OFF = 5.000 ns QUARTER = 2.500 ns START_DLY = 0.000 ns FREQ = 200000 kHz PHASE = 0 deg DUTY = 50 % PERIOD = 5.000 ns CLK_ON = 2.500 ns CLK_OFF = 2.500 ns QUARTER = 1.250 ns START_DLY = 0.000 ns FREQ = 400000 kHz PHASE = 0 deg DUTY = 50 % PERIOD = 2.500 ns CLK_ON = 1.250 ns CLK_OFF = 1.250 ns QUARTER = 0.625 ns START_DLY = 0.000 ns FREQ = 800000 kHz PHASE = 0 deg DUTY = 50 % PERIOD = 1.250 ns CLK_ON = 0.625 ns CLK_OFF = 0.625 ns QUARTER = 0.312 ns START_DLY = 0.000 ns i=0 dly=36 i=1 dly=129 i=2 dly=9 i=3 dly=99 i=4 dly=13 i=5 dly=141 i=6 dly=101 i=7 dly=18 i=8 dly=1 i=9 dly=13 Simulation complete via $finish(1) at time 1110 NS + 0
Testbench with different clock phases
module tb;
wire clk1;
wire clk2;
reg enable;
reg [7:0] dly;
clock_gen u0(enable, clk1);
clock_gen #(.FREQ(50000), .PHASE(90)) u1(enable, clk2);
initial begin
enable <= 0;
for (int i = 0; i < 10; i=i+1) begin
dly = $random;
#(dly) enable <= ~enable;
$display("i=%0d dly=%0d", i, dly);
end
#50 $finish;
end
endmodule
xcelium> run FREQ = 100000 kHz PHASE = 0 deg DUTY = 50 % PERIOD = 10.000 ns CLK_ON = 5.000 ns CLK_OFF = 5.000 ns QUARTER = 2.500 ns START_DLY = 0.000 ns FREQ = 100000 kHz PHASE = 90 deg DUTY = 50 % PERIOD = 10.000 ns CLK_ON = 5.000 ns CLK_OFF = 5.000 ns QUARTER = 2.500 ns START_DLY = 2.500 ns FREQ = 100000 kHz PHASE = 180 deg DUTY = 50 % PERIOD = 10.000 ns CLK_ON = 5.000 ns CLK_OFF = 5.000 ns QUARTER = 2.500 ns START_DLY = 5.000 ns FREQ = 100000 kHz PHASE = 270 deg DUTY = 50 % PERIOD = 10.000 ns CLK_ON = 5.000 ns CLK_OFF = 5.000 ns QUARTER = 2.500 ns START_DLY = 7.500 ns i=0 dly=36 i=1 dly=129 i=2 dly=9 i=3 dly=99 i=4 dly=13 i=5 dly=141 i=6 dly=101 i=7 dly=18 i=8 dly=1 i=9 dly=13 Simulation complete via $finish(1) at time 1110 NS + 0
Testbench with different duty cycles
module tb;
wire clk1;
wire clk2;
wire clk3;
wire clk4;
reg enable;
reg [7:0] dly;
clock_gen u0(enable, clk1);
clock_gen #(.DUTY(25)) u1(enable, clk2);
clock_gen #(.DUTY(75)) u2(enable, clk3);
clock_gen #(.DUTY(90)) u3(enable, clk4);
initial begin
enable <= 0;
for (int i = 0; i < 10; i= i+1) begin
dly = $random;
#(dly) enable <= ~enable;
$display("i=%0d dly=%0d", i, dly);
#50;
end
#50 $finish;
end
endmodule
xcelium> run FREQ = 100000 kHz PHASE = 0 deg DUTY = 50 % PERIOD = 10.000 ns CLK_ON = 5.000 ns CLK_OFF = 5.000 ns QUARTER = 2.500 ns START_DLY = 0.000 ns FREQ = 100000 kHz PHASE = 0 deg DUTY = 25 % PERIOD = 10.000 ns CLK_ON = 2.500 ns CLK_OFF = 7.500 ns QUARTER = 2.500 ns START_DLY = 0.000 ns FREQ = 100000 kHz PHASE = 0 deg DUTY = 75 % PERIOD = 10.000 ns CLK_ON = 7.500 ns CLK_OFF = 2.500 ns QUARTER = 2.500 ns START_DLY = 0.000 ns FREQ = 100000 kHz PHASE = 0 deg DUTY = 90 % PERIOD = 10.000 ns CLK_ON = 9.000 ns CLK_OFF = 1.000 ns QUARTER = 2.500 ns START_DLY = 0.000 ns i=0 dly=36 i=1 dly=129 i=2 dly=9 i=3 dly=99 i=4 dly=13 i=5 dly=141 i=6 dly=101 i=7 dly=18 i=8 dly=1 i=9 dly=13 Simulation complete via $finish(1) at time 1110 NS + 0
Toggle enable to start/stop clocks
The waveform below shows that clocks are stopped when enable is low and clocks are started when enable is set high.
