Patent Abstract:
A multilevel clock tree uses a temporary clock buffer or reference signal in a clock tree deskew circuit to dynamically minimize skew in a variable delay clock signal that synchronizes operation of synchronized circuit components of an integrated circuit. There are multiple temporary clock buffer signals at each level of the multilevel clock tree. Skew between the temporary clock buffer signals are minimized by providing identical path lengths and path geometries at each level of the temporary clock buffer. The clock tree deskew circuit reduces the clock tree skew, on a level by level basis, in repeated intervals over a period of time. When each level of the tree deskew circuit is deskewed, that level of the clock tree deskew circuit is then turned off to prevent unnecessary further adjustments to the clock signals, but can be turned back on when conditions change that alter the clock tree skew. The clock tree deskew circuit adjusts the variable delay clock buffer signal of each pair toward the temporary clock buffer signal of the pair to reduce the skew between the two clock buffer signals. After a predetermined number of adjustment cycles, the overall clock skew of the variable delay clock buffer signal is minimized by repeated adjustments. The variable delay clock buffer signals of each level may be optionally set as conditions warrant.

Full Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/915,237, filed Jul. 25, 2001, which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/596,677, filed Jun. 19, 2000, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,340,905 B1. U.S. patent application Ser. Nos. 09/915,237 and 09/596,677 are herein incorporated by reference. 
    
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     This invention relates to clock signal fan out within integrated circuit (IC) chips and, specifically, to a method of deskewing clock signals at various levels of a multilevel clock tree. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Conventional integrated circuits (ICs) use a clock signal and branch it out through a series of buffers to form a plurality of clock signals. The structure of the branching of the clock signal is called a “clock tree.” One or more clock trees can be present in a single IC. For example, a clock signal at a given branch, or level, of the clock tree may feed into three buffers to produce three clock signals at the next level, which may each feed into three more buffers to produce nine clock signals at the third level. The clock signals at any level of the clock tree are sent to various synchronous components of the IC to coordinate the functions of these components. For various reasons, however, any two clock signals, even at the same level of the same clock tree, may be slightly different or offset from each other. This difference in clock signals is called “clock skew,” and differences throughout several clock signals of any level of the clock tree is called “clock tree skew”. 
     Clock tree skew has several causes. For example, the buffers between levels in the clock tree typically introduce a delay between their input and output clock signals, so clock signals at different levels of the clock tree are usually naturally skewed from each other. Additionally, the load experienced by one clock signal may introduce a delay into the clock signal different from that of another load on another clock signal. Furthermore, changes in temperature, different applied voltages and differing semiconductor fabrication processes can affect the clock skew. Such other causes of clock skew are typically due to temperature variations, circuit load variations, different applied voltages, different semiconductor fabrication processes and inadequate tolerances in the semiconductor fabrication process. 
     One prior art device employs a power PC chip which has buffers with multiple trees to drive a large bus. Performance is less than optimal because changes in the rise and fall times of these many drivers slows system operation. 
     Another prior art device relied on a neighboring clock signal for deskewing in which each finally derived clock signal drove the active components of the integrated circuit. This device consumed a notable area of semiconductor substrate and was somewhat susceptible to process, voltage, and temperature variations. 
     There is a need to provide a method to reliably generate multiple levels of well calibrated clock signals which requires minimal semiconductor substrate area and has reduced susceptibility to process, voltage, and temperature variations. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention enables dynamic self-detection and correction of clock tree skew in an integrated circuit (IC) using a multilevel clock tree. Each level has a temporary clock buffer or reference signal which is used to deskew the variable delay clock buffer signals. Several temporary clock buffer signals are generated at each level. By designing their signal paths to be the same length and geometry, the temporary clock buffer signals of a given level are synchronized. Only the variable delay clock buffer signals proceed to the next level of the multilevel clock tree. 
     Clock skew variations due to temperature changes, different applied voltages and different semiconductor fabrication processes are corrected at each level of the multilevel clock tree. Thus, as clock skew increases or decreases during operation of the IC, the present invention may dynamically detect and correct the changing clock skew on-the-fly. In this manner, the adjustment of each clock signal in a clock tree does not rely on a single determination and adjustment of the anticipated clock skew during the design of the IC, but is altered and re-altered as is dynamically determined to be appropriate by a skew detection and adjustment circuitry, particularly in response to differences in applied voltage, temperature and fabrication process. The design combines signal path length balancing with temporary clock buffers for calibration. The clock skew of every variable delay clock buffer signal of each level may be independently set as circumstances warrant. 
     In the skew detection and adjustment circuitry of the present invention, each variable delay clock buffer signal in a clock tree is paired with a temporary clock buffer signal at each level in the clock tree. The absolute skew between the two clock signals in each pair is detected, and the variable delay clock buffer signal of each pair is adjusted forward or backward as appropriate. Such adjustment of the clock signals is performed by adding or subtracting a certain amount of delay. The detection and adjustment is repeated in increments as necessary to reach an acceptable minimum skew. Thus, the invention has the advantage of automatically correcting for almost any amount of clock skew. Additionally, since the skew detection and adjustment circuitry may dynamically detect and correct absolute skew between a pair consisting of a temporary clock buffer signal and a variable clock delay buffer signal, the invention has the further advantage of automatically correcting for clock skew variations due to different applied voltages and/or different semiconductor fabrication processes that could not be anticipated during the design of the IC. The detection and adjustment may be performed during the operation of the IC to account for changing clock skew patterns or it may be performed as needed. 
     The clock tree deskew circuit preferably includes a plurality of skew adjust circuits and a corresponding plurality of skew detect circuits. The clock tree deskew circuit of a level also preferably sends output clock signals to either the synchronized circuit components or to the next level of the clock tree. Each skew adjust circuit corresponds to and produces one of the variable delay clock buffer signals. The skew detect circuits connect to their corresponding skew adjust circuits to receive the corresponding variable delay clock buffer signal. Each skew detect circuit also receives a temporary clock buffer signal. Each skew detect circuit produces an adjustment signal to its corresponding skew adjust circuit indicative of whether the variable delay clock signal preceded the temporary buffer signal. Each skew adjust circuit preferably receives the adjustment signal and shifts the corresponding variable delay clock buffer signal accordingly. 
     The multilevel clock tree of the present invention may be arranged such that each level is concentric to the others. This arrangement helps provide symmetry for the temporary clock buffer signal paths to ensure synchronization of the temporary clock buffer signals through the matching of signal path geometry and path length. The present invention provides an improvement over current methods in being able to adjust clock skew over temperature, process, and voltage variations and on the fly within just a few clock cycles. 
     In a portable device which incorporates an integrated circuit which has a multilevel clock tree of the present invention, a user may be able to selectively synchronize the timing of an integrated circuit having the multilevel clock tree. This would allow the user to synchronize the timing when he suddenly goes out doors or experiences a change of environment or climate. 
     It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory only and are not restrictive of the invention claimed. The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of the specification, illustrate an embodiment of the invention and together with the general description, serve to explain the principles of the invention. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     The numerous objects and advantages of the present invention may be better understood by those skilled in the art by reference to the accompanying figures in which: 
     FIG. 1 is a physical layout of a two level clock tree of the present invention; 
     FIG. 2 is an embodiment of a skew adjust circuit of the clock tree deskew circuit; 
     FIG. 3 is another embodiment of the skew adjust circuit of the clock tree deskew circuit; 
     FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a skew detect circuit of the clock tree deskew circuit; 
     FIG. 5 is a waveform timing diagram illustrating the deskewing of clock signals by the clock tree deskew circuit; 
     FIG. 6A illustrates a timing diagram of a prior art device; 
     FIG. 6B illustrates a timing diagram of the present invention; and 
     FIG. 7 illustrates an embodiment of the invention using a microcontroller. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     Reference will now be made in detail to an embodiment of the invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. 
     In FIG. 1, in an exemplary embodiment, there are two levels to the clock tree. FIG. 1 is merely illustrative as the present invention is not limited to two levels, but may be practiced with three, four, or more levels. It may also be practiced with but a single level. The circuit operates based on two temporary clock nets each turned on or off independently. The first level temporary clock net  45  is turned on (by the level 1 enable net  60 ) and driven by four first level temporary clock buffers  20 . There may be a greater or lesser number of first level temporary clock buffers  20 . There may be two, three, eight, etc. temporary clock buffers in the first level. A natural limit on the maximum number of temporary clock buffers is the fan out capability of the immediate source of the input clock signal. The fanout may be limited to four, six, eight, or another number. The second temporary clock tree net  48  is turned off or grounded by the level 2 enable net  70 . The first level temporary clock buffers  20  are driven by one starting buffer  5  shown connected to the “clock” in the center of the chip. This source clock which provides an input to buffer  5  may be provided by an off chip voltage controlled oscillator, a crystal oscillator, or the like, proximately disposed to the integrated circuit. 
     Since the delay along the four nets connected to the initial “clock” buffer may not be identical due to intra die interconnect process variations and due to different neighboring routes, the first level temporary clock buffers  20  may not all turn on at the same time. Additional differences in turn on times may be caused by intra die transistor variation, variations in signal line lengths, and differing capacitive effects. However, in the present invention, the input signal paths of each temporary clock buffer of a given level are designed to be the same length in an H style layout of the signal paths. Thus, the clock signal into each temporary clock buffer is presumed to be identical to the clock signal of the other temporary clock buffers of the same level. In other words, the temporary clock buffer signal paths are balanced which results in fewer and minimal adjustments. 
     In FIG. 1, additional delay programmable delay buffers  10  are provided right next to each of the temporary clock buffers  20 . The temporary clock buffer signal is a reference signal used to deskew at least one variable delay clock buffer signal but fewer than all the variable delay clock buffer signals of a given level of the clock tree. The variable delay clock buffer signal is adjusted with respect to this reference signal to provide a portion of the variable delay clock buffer signals and temporary clock buffer signals of the next level or to provide a portion of the clock signals which time the synchronized active components of the integrated circuit. 
     The temporary clock buffers  20  are connected to the original “clock” buffer  5  in the center of the chip. These programmable clock tree buffers  10  are used to drive the next level of the clock tree. The programmable clock tree buffers  10  receive a variable delay clock buffer signal of a first level and provide either the actual clocks which run the active circuitry in the IC or the variable delay clock buffer signals and temporary buffer signals of the next level. The programmable buffers turn on times may not be identical and may have some skew between them. For this reason, the programmable buffers outputs are also connected to a skew detect or phase detect circuit  40 . The skew detect circuit  40  produces a 1 or 0 depending on whether the temporary clock buffers  20  or the first level programmable delay buffer output  10  arrives first. If the programmable delay buffer  10  arrives last, its speed is increased to match the temporary clock net  20 . All first level programmable delay buffers  10  are adjusted at the same time. The number of cycles needed and deskew capability depends on the resolution of the programmable delay buffer increments. With the present invention, the final deskew may be kept considerably under 20 to 30 picoseconds and may even be as low as 5 picoseconds. 
     The first level programmable delays are first established. Testing equipment may be used on a representative sample of IC units to make a firm determination as to the variance of the clock signals generated from the different tree levels. After the first level programmable delays are set, the first level temporary clock buffers are turned off or grounded by the first level enable signal  60 . The programmable delay clock buffers  10  are also now held constant in terms of delay and no further adjustments are necessary. They still remain active and are not controlled by the first level enable signal. 
     The first level programmable delay drivers  10  next to the temporary buffers  20  are now deskewed and drive the second level temporary clock buffers  30  and second level programmable delay buffers  15  next to the temporary clock buffers  30 . Now the second level temporary clock buffers  30  are enabled via the level 2 enable net  70 . Once again, the net delays, programmable clock buffer delays and temporary clock buffer delays will not be identical. The second level clock net  48  may not have smooth rise and fall times. The temporary  30  and programmable delay  15  buffer outputs are connected to the skew detect or phase detect circuits. 
     The programmable clock buffers  15  are adjusted to match the temporary clock net  48 . The skew detect circuit  40  produces a 1 or 0 depending on whether the temporary net  48  or the second level programmable delay buffer  15  arrives out first. If the programmable delay buffer  15  arrives first, it is then slowed down to match the temporary clock net  48 . If the programmable delay buffer  15  arrives last, its speed is increased to match the temporary clock net  48 . All second level programmable delay buffers  15  are adjusted at the same time. The number of cycles needed and deskew capability depends on the resolution of the programmable delay buffer increments. The final deskew of the second level programmable clock tree buffers  15  may be set below 20 to 30 picoseconds, even to 5 picosecond or less. 
     After the second level programmable delays are set, the second level temporary clock buffers  30  are turned off or grounded by the second level enable signal  70 . The programmable delay clock buffers are also now held constant in terms of delay and no further adjustments are necessary. They still remain active and are not controlled by the second level enable signal. 
     This process may be repeated many times depending on how many levels of programmable clock buffers are needed. The resulting skew will not increase with the number of levels added to the design since each level is deskewed prior to the next level being deskewed. 
     Referring now to FIG. 4, an exemplary skew detect circuit is shown. The skew detect circuit may be conventional or specially designed. It may include two sets of delay buffers, or inverters,  226   a - 226   f  and  228   a - 228   f , a pass gate  230 , a keeper cell  232  and an output buffer  234 . The variable delay clock buffer signal  161  is fed through the delay buffers  226   a - 226   f , and the temporary clock buffer signal  162  is fed through the delay buffers  228   a - 228   f . The skew adjust signal  167  is produced by the output buffer  234 . The delay buffers  226   a - 226   f  and  228   a - 228   f  cause the skew adjust signal  167  to be produced with appropriate timing to be latched by the set/reset flip-flops  185  and  186  (FIG. 2) of the skew adjust circuit. From previous (or, N level) variable delay clock buffer signal  160 , N+1 level variable delay clock buffer signal  161  is generated. 
     The delay buffers  226   a - 226   f  are connected to each other in series, with the variable delay clock buffer signal  161  connected to the input of the first delay buffer  226   a . The output of the last delay buffer  226   f  is connected to the pass gate  230 . The pass gate  230  also connects to the keeper cell  232  to pass the output signal of the delay buffer  226   f  to the keeper cell  232  when the pass gate  230  is closed, or turned “on.” The pass gate  230  includes a positive-active transistor  236  and a negative-active transistor  238  connected in parallel, such that they are closed when a logic 1 signal activates transistor  236  and a logic 0 signal activates transistor  238 . The keeper cell  232  connects to the output buffer  234  to provide the desired value of the skew adjust signal  167  (inverted) to the output buffer  234 . 
     The keeper cell  232  includes two inverters  246  and  247  connected in a loop, such that the input of inverter  246  connects to the output of inverter  247 , and the output of inverter  246  connects to the input of inverter  247 . The input of the inverter  246  also forms the input of the keeper cell  232 , and the output of the inverter  246  also forms the output of the keeper cell  232 . In this manner, since the inverter  247  feeds back into the inverter  246 , the inverters  246  and  247  maintain the previously received signal as long as no new signal is applied to the keeper cell  232  as described below. The output buffer  234  inverts the output signal of the keeper cell  232  and provides the inverted signal as the skew adjust signal  167  during the time that no new signal is applied to the keeper cell  232 . The timing of the skew detect circuit and the skew adjust circuit  148  (FIG. 2) are such that the skew adjust signal  167  is latched by the set/reset flip-flops  185  and  186  (FIG. 2) during this time. 
     The delay buffers  228   a - 228   f  are connected to each other in series, with the temporary clock buffer signal  162  connected to the input of the first delay buffer  228   a . Outputs of the second-to-last delay buffer  228   e  and the last delay buffer  228   f  are connected to transistors  236  and  238 , respectively, of the pass gate  230 . Control signals from the delay buffers  228   e  and  228   f  control the transistors  236  and  238 , respectively, to turn “on” and “off” the pass gate  230  to permit the output signal from the delay buffer  226   f  to pass through, or not to pass through, the pass gate  230  to the keeper cell  232 . 
     A pull-down transistor  258  is connected between the input of the keeper cell  232  and ground  260 . The gate of the pull-down transistor  255  is connected to the output of an OR gate  266 . The OR gate  266  receives its inputs from the outputs of the first two delay buffers  226   a  and  228   a . Thus, as long as at least one of the variable delay clock buffer signal  161  and temporary clock buffer signal  162  is a logic 0, then at least one of the input signals to the OR gate  266  will be a logic 1, and the output signal from the OR gate  266  will also be a logic 1. In this case, the pull-down transistor  258  will be turned “on,” and the input of the keeper cell  232  will be pulled down to ground, so the output signal from the pass gate  230  cannot be applied to the keeper cell  232  at this time. It is only when both of the variable delay clock buffer signal  161  and temporary clock buffer signal  162  go “low” (i.e. logic 0) that the pull-down transistor  258  is turned “off,” and the output signal from the pass gate  230  is applied to the keeper cell  232 . 
     The output signal from the delay buffer  226   f  is passed through the pass gate  230  to the keeper cell  232  only when the pass gate  230  is closed, or “on.” The pass gate  230  is “on” only when the output signals of the delay buffers  228   e  and  228   f  are logic 1 and logic 0, respectively. The output signals of the delay buffers  228   e  and  228   f  are logic 1 and logic 0, respectively, only when the temporary clock buffer signal  162  is logic 0, and the logic 0 has propagated through the delay buffers  228   a - 228   f . In other words, the output signal of the delay buffer  226   f  can pass through the pass gate  230  to the keeper cell  232  only when the temporary clock buffer signal  162  is logic 0. However, the pull-down transistor  258  permits the keeper cell  232  to receive the output signal from the pass gate  230  only when both of the clock signals  161  and  162  are logic 0. Due to the delay of the temporary clock buffer signal  162  through the delay buffers  228   a - 228   f , however, there is a “window of opportunity” for a short time interval after the temporary clock buffer signal  162  transitions from logic 0 to logic 1 for the output signal of the delay buffer  226   f  to pass through the pass gate  230  before the pass gate  230  is turned “off.” The pull-down transistor  258  is turned “off” at the beginning of the “window of opportunity,” so that the output signal from the pass gate  230  can be latched by the keeper cell  232 . The pull-down transistor  258  remains “off” for an additional period of time during which the keeper cell  232  “holds” the value of the most recent output signal from the pass gate  230 . During this period of time, the output buffer  234  supplies the skew adjust signal  167  to the skew adjust circuit  148  (FIG.  2 ). 
     If the clock skew between the variable delay clock buffer signal  161  and temporary clock buffer signal  162  is such that the variable delay clock buffer signal  161  precedes the temporary clock buffer signal  162 , then the variable delay clock buffer signal  161  will transition from logic 0 to logic 1 before the temporary clock buffer signal  162  does the same. Therefore, since the number of delay buffers  226   a - 226   f  is the same as the number of delay buffers  228   a - 228   f , the output signal of delay buffer  226   f  will become logic 1 for a time approximately equal to the time of the clock skew prior to the turning “off” of the pass gate  230 . In this case, the logic 1 value will be latched by the keeper cell  232  and held at this logic value until the pull-down transistor  258  turns on. During this time, the inverter  246  inverts the logic 1 to logic 0, the output buffer  234  inverts the logic 0 to logic 1 for the skew adjust signal  167 , and the set/reset flip-flops  183  and  186  (FIG. 2) latch the skew adjust signal  167 . 
     If the clock skew between the variable delay clock buffer signal  161  and temporary clock buffer signal  162  is such that the variable delay clock buffer signal  161  follows the temporary clock buffer signal  162 , then the variable delay clock buffer signal  161  will transition from logic 0 to logic 1 after the temporary clock buffer signal  162  does the same. Therefore, the output signal of the delay buffer  226   f  will still be logic 0 at the time of the turning “off” of the pass gate  230 . In this case, the logic 0 value will be latched by the keeper cell  232  and held at this logic value until the pull-down transistor  258  turns “on.” between the time that the keeper cell  232  latches the logic 0 and the time that the pull-down transistor  258  turns “on,” the inverter  246  inverts the logic 0 to logic 1, the output buffer  234  inverts the logic 1 to logic 0 for the skew adjust signal  167 , and the set/reset flip-flops  183  and  186  (FIG. 2) latch the skew adjust signal  167 . 
     An exemplary clock tree deskew situation with different examples of clock skew between the variable delay clock buffer signal  161  and the temporary clock buffer signal is shown in FIG.  5 . In this example, the rising edge of the variable delay clock buffer signal  161  leads the rising edge of the reference signal  162  by a certain amount of time  272 . The skew detect circuitry sends an adjustment bit to the skew adjust circuitry. On the next clock cycle, the rising edge of the variable delay clock buffer signal  161  again leads the rising edge of the reference signal  162  by an amount of time  274 . The skew detect circuitry sends an adjustment bit to the skew adjust circuitry. The next rising edge of the variable clock delay signal  161  coincides with the next rising edge of the reference or temporary clock buffer signal  162 . This skew detect circuitry will continue to output adjustment bits, but now they will toggle from one clock cycle to the next because the two signals  161  and  162  are essentially synchronized to the circuitry limits. The skew is no more than 30 picoseconds and may be less than 5 picoseconds. 
     In FIG. 3, another embodiment of the skew adjust circuit is shown. The buffer structure  389  generally includes inverters  396  and  397 , a set of transistor switches  398 ,  399 ,  400 ,  401 ,  402 , and  403  and a set of capacitors  404 ,  405 ,  406 ,  407 ,  408 , and  409 . The output of inverter  396  connects to the input of inverter  397  across signal line  410 . The input of inverter  396  inverts the input clock signal  360  and sends it across signal line  410  to the inverter  397 , which inverts the clock signal again and produces it as output clock signal  361 . 
     The transistor switches  398 ,  399 ,  400 ,  401 ,  402  and  403  connect between signal line  410  and the capacitors  404 ,  405 ,  406 ,  407 ,  408  and  409 , respectively, which in turn connect to ground  411 . When any one of the transistor switches  398 ,  399 ,  400 ,  401 ,  402 , or  403  is closed, its respective capacitor  404 ,  405 ,  406 ,  407 ,  408 , or  409  applies a capacitive load to the inverted signal on signal line  410 , due to the time required to charge and discharge the capacitors  404 ,  405 ,  406 ,  407 ,  408  and  409 . 
     When few or none of the transistor switches  398  to  303  are closed, then the capacitive load, and thus the delay, applied to the inverted signal is small or minimized. When most or all of the transistor switches  398  to  403  are closed, then the capacitive load, and thus the delay, applied to the inverted signal is large or maximized. By selectively closing or opening the transistor switches  398  to  403 , the delay in the inverted signal is increased or decreased in predetermined increments, or steps, as determined by the capacitance of the capacitors  404  to  409 . 
     Other operational details of FIG. 3 may be found in the description of FIG. 3 of U.S. Pat. No. 6,340,905, which is herein incorporated by reference. 
     The number of set of set/reset flip-flops in the skew adjust circuit need not be six, but may be a number such as four, eight, ten, or any other odd or even number that provides sufficient calibration of the variable delay clock buffer. Other circuits may be used to adjust the skew. 
     FIG. 6B illustrates a timing diagram of the present invention. The transition of the clock of the present invention is cleaner than the transition of the clock of the prior art (FIG. 6A) since, in the present invention, there is no contention between multiple clock buffers that drive the clock tree since the temporary driver net is turned off after the variable delay clock buffers are deskewed with respect to the temporary driver net. In contrast, in the prior art, the temporary driver net is used to drive the clock tree. 
     Each level of the clock tree may optionally be set rather than successively set. For instance, a user may set the first and third levels, but not the second. Or, the user may set the second and third levels, but not the first. Or, the user may set the first and fourth level, but not the second and third. Other combinations of setting levels may be performed. 
     The programmable clock buffers may be controlled by external firmware and/or an internal micro controller. All that is needed is a register to keep track of what adjustments are needed for each programmable buffer. The adjustment information may also be written to an EPROM, flash memory, SRAM, DRAM, or hard drive. The advantage of this method is that all adjustments are self calibrating and do not need external software or hardware. 
     FIG. 7 illustrates an embodiment of the present invention using a micro controller and EEPROM wherein the microcontroller and EEPROM may be disposed external to the chip. Components  510 ,  520 ,  530 ,  540 ,  550 ,  560 ,  570 ,  580 ,  590 ,  600  form another embodiment of skew detect and skew adjust circuits for one of the levels of the multilevel clock tree. The microcontroller  500  provides the set, reset, and enable signals for the deskew logic. As shown, the clock may be controlled by the enable signal through a logic gate  510 ,  560 . An enabled clock is used by a 10 bit register for timing the adjustment for the particular variable delay clock buffer. The MUX  530 ,  580  switches on and off the data from the registers  520 ,  570  or allows the previous adjustments which were stored in the EEPROM to load or control the programmable delay buffers. A programmable delay clock buffer  540 ,  590  controls the output of the resulting clock signal. The set and reset signals allow for initialization of the adjustment circuitry. Other variations are within the purview of the invention. 
     The exemplary embodiment of FIG. 7 also permits testing of the integrated circuit&#39;s multilevel clock tree to finely control for process variations during manufacture. 
     The present invention may be incorporated into a portable device such as a lap top, cell phone, PDA, pager, and the like. An advantage of the present invention is that the user of the device which incorporates the integrated circuit may, as needed or desired, recalibrate the clock tree. This would especially be useful when the portable device experiences temperature and other environmental changes since a user may elect to reset the skew adjustments of the clock tree. This would be especially useful for out of doors applications. 
     Further, it is believed that the present invention and many of its attendant advantages will be understood by the foregoing description, and it will be apparent that various changes may be made in the form, construction, and arrangement of the components thereof without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention or without sacrificing all of its material advantages. The form herein before described being merely an explanatory embodiment thereof, it is the intention of the following claims to encompass and include such changes.

Technology Classification (CPC): 6