A flop captures at an instant; a latch is transparent for a whole phase of the clock. That difference lets a late-arriving signal pass through and use time that would have belonged to the next stage. Timing analysis models this as time borrowing. This topic covers the latch timing model, a worked borrowing example, chains of borrowing, and the signoff rules.
Lesson | After it you can... |
|---|---|
Name the opening and closing edges and the checks at each. | |
Compute borrowed time and its effect on the next path. | |
Follow borrowing through several latches. | |
Apply the review rules for latch-based paths. |
The transparent window minus the setup time to the closing edge: data must arrive before the latch closes (less setup), and the borrowed time is whatever it arrives after the opening edge. The usable borrow is the smaller of that window limit and the downstream slack.