Handshake protocols for de-synchronization

Abstract

De-synchronization appears as a new paradigm to automate the design of asynchronous circuits from synchronous netlists. This paper studies different protocols for de-synchronization and formally proves their correctness. Taxonomy of existing protocols for latch controllers is provided. In particular, four-phase handshake protocols devised for micro-pipelines are studied. A new controller with maximum concurrency for de-synchronization is also proposed. The applicability of de-synchronization on an implementation of the DLX microprocessor is also described and discussed.