Intel Cyclone 10 LP Device Design Guidelines

ID 683861
Date 3/28/2019
Public
Document Table of Contents

Timing Constraints and Analysis

Table 59.  Design Specifications Checklist
Number Done? Checklist Item
1   Ensure timing constraints are complete and accurate, including all clock signals and I/O delays.
2   Review the Timing Analyzer reports after compilation to ensure there are no timing violations.
3   Ensure that the input I/O times are not violated when data is provided to the Intel® Cyclone® 10 LP device.

In an FPGA design flow, accurate timing constraints allow timing-driven synthesis software and place-and-route software to obtain optimal results. Timing constraints are critical to ensure designs meet their timing requirements, which represent actual design requirements that must be met for the device to operate correctly. The Intel® Quartus® Prime Standard Edition software optimizes and analyzes your design using different timing models for each device speed grade, so you must perform timing analysis for the correct speed grade. The final programmed device might not operate as expected if the timing paths are not fully constrained, analyzed, and verified to meet requirements.

The Intel® Quartus® Prime Standard Edition software includes the Intel® Quartus® Prime Timing Analyzer, a powerful ASIC-style timing analysis tool that validates the timing performance of all logic in your design. It supports the industry standard Synopsys* Design Constraints (SDC) format timing constraints, and has an easy-to-use GUI with interactive timing reports. It is ideal for constraining high-speed source-synchronous interfaces and clock multiplexing design structures.

The software also supports static timing analysis in the industry-standard Synopsys* Primetime software. Specify the tool in the Assignments > Settings > EDA Tools Settings dialog box to generate the required timing netlist.

A comprehensive static timing analysis includes analysis of register to register, I/O, and asynchronous reset paths. It is important to specify the frequencies and relationships for all clocks in your design. Use input and output delay constraints to specify external device or board timing parameters. Specify accurate timing requirements for external interfacing components to reflect the exact system intent.

The Timing Analyzer performs static timing analysis on the entire system, using data required times, data arrival times, and clock arrival times to verify circuit performance and detect possible timing violations. It determines the timing relationships that must be met for the design to correctly function.

You can use the report_datasheet command to generate a datasheet report that summarizes the I/O timing characteristics of the entire design.