Everything about the Clock

This chapter focuses on the many issues around the clock: clock generation, clock distribution (logical and physical), clock usage (from system and electrical perspectives), clock quality, and clock network power consumption. There are three circuit components needed in a clock distribution plan: frequency divider, clock selector, and clock gating element. In a baseband signal processing system, the clock is used for information slicing (analog-to- digital process) and deslicing (digital-to-analog process). The clock is used in an electronic system to control the sequential cells. Its purpose is to ensure that, in the electronic system, information (or data) is processed and transferred in a stage-by-stage fashion. Jitter can be classified by the nature of the fluctuation: random or deterministic. In digital system design, the most often used jitter terms are period jitter and cycle-to-cycle period jitter.