On the signal bounding problem in timing analysis

Abstract

In this paper, we study the propagation of slew dependent bounding signals and the corresponding slew problem in static timing analysis. The selection of slew from the latest arriving signal, a commonly used strategy, may violate the rule of monotonic delay. Several methods for generating bounding signals to overcome this difficulty are described. The accuracy and monotonicity of each method is analyzed. These methods can be easily implemented in a static timer to improve the accuracy.