Verilog Gate Delay

Digital elements are binary entities and can only hold either of the two values - 0 and 1. However the transition from 0 to 1 and 1 to 0 have a transitional delay and so does each gate element to propagate the value from input to its output.

For example, a two input AND gate has to switch the output to 1 if both inputs become 1 and back to 0 when any of its inputs become 0. These gate and pin to pin delays can be specified in Verilog when instantiating logic primitives.

Rise, Fall and Turn-Off Delays

The time taken for the output of a gate to change from some value to 1 is called a rise delay. The time taken for the output of a gate to change fomr some value to 0 is called a fall delay. The time taken for the output of a gate to change from some value to high impedance is called turn-off delay.

These delays are actually applicable to any signal as they all can rise or fall anytime in real circuits and are not restricted to only outputs of gates. There are three ways to represent gate delays and the two delay format can be applied to most primitives whose outputs do not transition to high impedance. Like a three delay format cannot be applied to an AND gate because the output will not go to Z for any input combination.

  
  
// Single delay specified - used for all three types of transition delays
or #(<delay>) o1 (out, a, b);

// Two delays specified - used for Rise and Fall transitions
or #(<rise>, <fall>) o1 (out, a, b);

// Three delays specified - used for Rise, Fall and Turn-off transitions
or #(<rise>, <fall>, <turn_off>) o1 (out, a, b);

  

If only a single delay is specified, all three types of delays will use the same given value. If there are two delays specified, the first one represents rise and the second one represents fall delay. If there are three delays specified, they represent rise, fall and turn-off delays respectively.

One Delay Format

  
  
module des (	input 	a, b,
            	output out1, out2);

	// AND gate has 2 time unit gate delay
  and 		#(2) o1 (out1, a, b);
  
  // BUFIF0 gate has 3 time unit gate delay
  bufif0 	#(3) b1 (out2, a, b);
  
endmodule

  

  
  
module tb;
  reg a, b;
  wire out1, out2;
  
  des d0 (.out1(out1), .out2(out2), .a(a), .b(b));
  
  initial begin
    {a, b} <= 0;
    
    $monitor ("T=%0t a=%0b b=%0b and=%0b bufif0=%0b", $time, a, b, out1, out2);
    
    #10 a <= 1;
    #10 b <= 1;
    #10 a <= 0;
    #10 b <= 0;
  end
endmodule

  

See that the output of AND gates change 2 time units after one of its inputs change. For example, b becomes 1 while a is already 1 at T=20. But the output becomes 1 only at T=22. Similarly, a goes back to zero at T=30 and the output gets the new value at T=32.

Gate delay is specified as 3 time units for BUFIF0 and hence when b changes from 0 to 1 while a is already at 1, output takes 3 time units to get updated to Z and finally does so at T=23.

Simulation Log

ncsim> run
T=0 a=0 b=0 and=x bufif0=x
T=2 a=0 b=0 and=0 bufif0=x
T=3 a=0 b=0 and=0 bufif0=0
T=10 a=1 b=0 and=0 bufif0=0
T=13 a=1 b=0 and=0 bufif0=1
T=20 a=1 b=1 and=0 bufif0=1
T=22 a=1 b=1 and=1 bufif0=1
T=23 a=1 b=1 and=1 bufif0=z
T=30 a=0 b=1 and=1 bufif0=z
T=32 a=0 b=1 and=0 bufif0=z
T=40 a=0 b=0 and=0 bufif0=z
T=43 a=0 b=0 and=0 bufif0=0
ncsim: *W,RNQUIE: Simulation is complete.

Two Delay Format

Let's apply the same testbench shown above to a different Verilog model shown below where rise and fall delays are explicitly mentioned.

  
  
module des (	input 	a, b,
            	output out1, out2);

  and #(2, 3) o1 (out1, a, b);
  bufif0 #(4, 5) b1 (out2, a, b);
  
endmodule

  

Simulation Log

ncsim> run
T=0 a=0 b=0 and=x bufif0=x
T=3 a=0 b=0 and=0 bufif0=x
T=5 a=0 b=0 and=0 bufif0=0
T=10 a=1 b=0 and=0 bufif0=0
T=14 a=1 b=0 and=0 bufif0=1
T=20 a=1 b=1 and=0 bufif0=1
T=22 a=1 b=1 and=1 bufif0=1
T=24 a=1 b=1 and=1 bufif0=z
T=30 a=0 b=1 and=1 bufif0=z
T=33 a=0 b=1 and=0 bufif0=z
T=40 a=0 b=0 and=0 bufif0=z
T=45 a=0 b=0 and=0 bufif0=0
ncsim: *W,RNQUIE: Simulation is complete.

Three Delay Format

  
  
module des (	input 	a, b,
            	output out1, out2);

  and #(2, 3) o1 (out1, a, b);
  bufif0 #(5, 6, 7) b1 (out2, a, b);
  
endmodule

  

Simulation Log

ncsim> run
T=0 a=0 b=0 and=x bufif0=x
T=3 a=0 b=0 and=0 bufif0=x
T=6 a=0 b=0 and=0 bufif0=0
T=10 a=1 b=0 and=0 bufif0=0
T=15 a=1 b=0 and=0 bufif0=1
T=20 a=1 b=1 and=0 bufif0=1
T=22 a=1 b=1 and=1 bufif0=1
T=27 a=1 b=1 and=1 bufif0=z
T=30 a=0 b=1 and=1 bufif0=z
T=33 a=0 b=1 and=0 bufif0=z
T=40 a=0 b=0 and=0 bufif0=z
T=46 a=0 b=0 and=0 bufif0=0
ncsim: *W,RNQUIE: Simulation is complete.

Min/Typ/Max Delays

Delays are not the same in different parts of the fabricated chip nor is it same for different temperatures and other variations. So Verilog also provides an extra level of control for each of the delay types mentioned above. Every digital gate and transistor cell has a minimum, typical and maximum delay specified based on process node and is typically provided by libraries from fabrication foundry.

For each type of delay - rise, fall, and turn-off - three values min, typ and max can be specified and stand for minimum, typical and maximum delays.

  
  
module des (	input 	a, b,
            	output out1, out2);

  and #(2:3:4, 3:4:5) o1 (out1, a, b);
  bufif0 #(5:6:7, 6:7:8, 7:8:9) b1 (out2, a, b);
  
endmodule

  

Simulation Log

ncsim> run
T=0 a=0 b=0 and=x bufif0=x
T=4 a=0 b=0 and=0 bufif0=x
T=7 a=0 b=0 and=0 bufif0=0
T=10 a=1 b=0 and=0 bufif0=0
T=16 a=1 b=0 and=0 bufif0=1
T=20 a=1 b=1 and=0 bufif0=1
T=23 a=1 b=1 and=1 bufif0=1
T=28 a=1 b=1 and=1 bufif0=z
T=30 a=0 b=1 and=1 bufif0=z
T=34 a=0 b=1 and=0 bufif0=z
T=40 a=0 b=0 and=0 bufif0=z
T=47 a=0 b=0 and=0 bufif0=0
ncsim: *W,RNQUIE: Simulation is complete.