Network of tightly coupled performance monitors for determining the maximum frequency of operation of a semiconductor ic

Abstract

A circuit interconnection structure for synchronizing a network of oscillators placed on a semiconductor substrate. One such structure comprises a first synchronizing circuit electrically coupled to a second synchronizing circuit through tunable delay circuits. Also disclosed are methods to tune oscillators placed in different regions of a circuit having multiple clock domains by estimating the relative slack of a first group of signals within the circuit with regard to the period of a first clock domain, and estimating the relative slack of the second group of signals within the circuit with regard to the period of second clock domain, wherein the estimating is performed at process and operational corners that cover the variability of the circuit at different speed conditions, then calculating tuning values for the oscillator delays for each region such that the oscillator delay slack matches the worst relative slack of the signals of the same region.