Skew sensitivity minimization of buffered clock tree

Abstract

Given a topology of clock tree and a library of buffers, we propose an efficient skew sensitivity minimization algorithm using dynamic programming approach. Our algorithm finds the optimum buffer sizes, its insertion levels in the clock tree, and optimum wire widths to minimize the skew sensitivity under manufacturing variations. Careful fine tuning by shifting buffer locations at the last stage preserves the minimum skew sensitivity property and reduces the interconnect length. For a given clock tree of n points and a library of s different buffer sizes, the run time of the presented algorithm is O(log3n•s2).Experimental results show a significant reduction of clock skews ranging from 87 times to 144 times compared to the clock skews before applying the proposed algorithm. We also observe a further reduction of the propagation delay of clock signals as a result of applying the proposed skew sensitivity algorithm.