Device and method for ensuring that a signal always reaches its destination after a fixed number of clock cycles

Abstract

In a semiconductor integrated circuit device () in which variation in a minimum propagation time of a transmission signal from a source node (SN) to a destination node (DN) is sufficiently large, relative to a clock period (T) at an intended clock frequency of the device, to cause variation in a clock cycle in which the transmission signal reaches the destination node (DN) a plurality of clocked elements (to) are connected in series between the source and destination nodes for causing a shift signal (SSto SS), representing the transmission signal present at the source node (SN) in a first clock cycle, to be shifted from the source node (SN) to the destination node (DN) through the series of clocked elements (to) one clocked element () per predetermined number of clock cycles. The series of clocked elements (to) is connected and arranged such that variation (v) in a propagation time of the shift signal (SS) from one clocked element () to the next clocked element () is sufficiently small, relative to the clock period (T), that a clock cycle in which the shift signal (SS) reaches the next clocked element () does not vary, whereby the shift signal (SS) always reaches the destination node (DN) a fixed number of clock cycles after the first clock cycle.