For Detailed VLSI Lab information:

http://analog.ece.utk.edu/ece491.htm
Final Project
Designing a 4-bit Counter or Flip-Flop
The final design project will require you to design a moderately complex VLSI design
circuit. For this class we choose to design a Flip-flop for the Undergrad student and a 4bit counter for Graduated Student. This project will be done individually.

Grad Student: Design a 4-bit Counter.

Undergrad : Design a flip-flop (J-K, T or D flip-flop) that has a Clocked Input with
the option of Set/Reset, Clear or Enabled.
You need to justify in your presentation and Report, why you choose a particular type
of flip-flop or counter. Grading will be done according to the quality of design.
Grading: This project will carry 20% of the whole course.
Project grading is subdivided as follows:
25 Project Presentation
25 Report Writing
50 Simulation & quality of project
100 Total
Follow the UTK Cadence tutorial to draw a schematic of all the basic gates using the
ami06 library. Use the Tutorial link
http://analog.ece.utk.edu/Cadence/utk_schematic.htm
Note that we are using AMI-0.6micron process for this final project.
Assume width, for
Length of the transistor will be 0.6 micron.
Pick up the width of p-mos and n-mos. You need to justify in the report regarding the
width.

Creating the Symbol, http://analog.ece.utk.edu/Cadence/create_symbol.htm

Simulationg by Spectra http://analog.ece.utk.edu/Cadence/spectre.htm
LVS geneation http://analog.ece.utk.edu/Cadence/LVS.htm
Follow the following link to get a good example of the whole design:
http://vlsi1.engr.utk.edu/~nislam/main.htm
You are required to do the following for the final project:
1. Enter a 1-bit fet-level schematic using Cadence Composer and perform pre-layout
simulations
2. Use Virtuoso to produce a manual layout from the Composer schematic that conforms
to the height format (any height), perform a DRC check and post-layout simulations
using Spectre.
3. Students will run all simulations and generate LVS.
4. Rise time, Fall time, Propagation delay will also be calculated. Add capacitance to your
output. Vary the Capacitance to get different delay.
Submit the plot of delay vs Load capacitance [use your favorite plotting tool,
Matlab or Excel] .
5. Prepare the final report by capturing gif files to illustrate the layouts and simulations.
Include a narrative description of your project.
6. Is there any application of your flip-flop or counter? Give details in your report.

Presentation will include all the simulation results. Rise time, Fall time,
Propagation delay, plot of delay vs Load will also include in your presentation slide.
SAMPLE REPORT:

I.

Objective:

The objective of this project is to design a 4-bit counter and implement it with the help of
Cadence (custom IC design tool) following necessary steps and rules dependent on
selected process technology.

II. Selection of counter to be designed:

In my project I have designed a 4-bit synchronous counter with serial carry look ahead
and synchronous reset. Some salient features and advantages have inspired me to go for
this type of counter, which are given below

Synchronous counter is considered as one of the most popular and widely used
counter.

Since same clock signal is given to all the fundamental blocks (Flip Flop) of the
counter, no interrupt can occur in the middle of a state transition.

It provides low propagation delay in comparison to asynchronous counter.

The output level of the counter is free from glitch, which ensures us about the
reliability of digital logic control.

III. Selection of Flip flop:

Flip-flop is the fundamental building block of counter. So, wise selection of flip flop is a
vital point in designing a counter. Toggling operation of T -flip flop is very efficient in
designing synchronous counter. But I have decided to design a JK flip flop due to
following reasons-

JK flip-flop is the most versatile of basic flip-flops.

Both T and D flip flop can be easily generated from it.

We can easily implement set and reset logic of the counter by using set and reset
mode of JK flip-flop.

IV. Design Steps:

Cadence is one of the most popular, efficient and commercial custom IC design tool.
There are some sequential steps that we have to follow strictly for fruitful IC design.
These steps are mentioned belowDesign Specification

Schematic Capture

Create Symbol

Simulation

Layout

DRC- Design rule Check

Extraction

LVS - Layout vs Schematic

Check

Post layout Simulation

Figure 1: Flowchart of design steps

V.

JK Filp Flop:

Master salve edge triggered flip flop is more preferable in IC design due to its reliable
output. The characteristics table of JK flip-flop is:
Table 1: Truth table of JK flip flop
J
0
0
1
1

K
0
1
0
1

Qn+1
Qn
0
1
Qn

Schematic:

Figure 2: Schematic diagram of JK flip flop

Master-slave cross couple NAND gate method is used in designing negative edge
triggered JK flip flop. The status of output stage (Q and Q) depends on the latched data
of master stage just before the negative going edge of the clock signal. Before the next
negative edge of the clock, the input of J and K has no effect on the output stage. This
reduces the effect of noise signal.
AMI-0.6 micron process is used in drawing the schematic of all basic gates like inverter,
AND, OR and NAND. Same W/L ratio (3/0.6) is used for both pmos and nmos. This
selection has made little bit variation between rise time and fall time. But this variation is
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negligible in case of digital circuit in comparison to the effect produced by load

capacitance. To implement synchronous reset logic 1 AND gate, 1 OR gate and 1 inverter
are used at the beginning of the circuit. When the reset pin will be high, it will force the
flip flop to go to reset mode.
Symbol:
The customized symbol of the JK flip flop is given below:

Figure 3: Symbol of JK flip flop with synchronous reset

Layout:

Figure 4: Layout of JK flip flop

VI. 4 Bit Synchronous Counter:

The truth table for 4 bit up counter is:

Table 2: Truth table of 4 bit synchronous up counter.

States

Count

10

11

12

13

14

15

According to the truth table, it can be noted that A must change state with every input
clock pulse. This can be easily implemented by using a T flip-flop. But even with JK flipflops, all we need to do here is to connect both the J and K inputs of this flip-flop to logic
1 in order to get the correct activity. B must change state only when output A is a logic 1,
but not when A is a logic 0. So, if we connect output A to the J and K inputs of flip-flop
B, we will see output B behaving correctly. Again, C must change state only when both A
and B are logic 1. We can't use only output B as the control for flip-flop C; that will allow
C to change state when the counter is in state 2, causing it to switch directly from a count
of 2 to a count of 7, and again from a count of 10 to a count of 15 not a good way to
count. Therefore we will need a two-input AND gate at the inputs to flip-flop C. The state
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of D will change only when the logic level of A, B and C are high. So we can use same
method for D flip flop.
An additional pin for serial carry look ahead is implemented for cascading purpose.
Sometimes we may need to construct a 8bit synchronous counter by using two 4 bit
counter. Then we will need the serial carry bit generated from previous counter.

Schematic:

Figure 5: Schematic diagram of 4 bit synchronous counter

Simulated waveform from schematic at 200MHz clock frequency:

Figure 6: Simulated wave shape from schematic

Layout:
The layout of the counter has been tried to make as small as possible using few
interconnection. Four flip flops are placed at four corners and 3 and gates are placed in
the middle. I have used up to metal2 layer for interconnection. The layout would have
been more compact if I would use metal3 layer. The final size of the layout is 114.45 m
by 83 m, which can be considered as a usual size of a 4bit counter.

Figure 7: Cadence layout of 4 bit counter

Extracted Layout:

Figure 8: Extracted layout of 4 bit counter

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Simulated waveform from extracted layout at 1MHz clock frequency:

Figure 9: Waveform of counter at 1 MHz clock.

Simulated waveform from extracted layout at 1MHz clock frequency with Reset:

Figure 10: Waveform of counter at 1 MHz clock with reset operation.

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VII. Some Extreme Cases:

Simulated waveform from extracted layout at 200MHz clock frequency:

Figure 11: Waveform of counter at 200 MHz clock

Simulated waveform from extracted layout at 10MHz clock frequency with 4pF load:

Figure 12: Waveform of counter at 10 MHz clock with 4pf load capacitance
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VIII. Measurement of Rise Time, Fall Time and Propagation Delay:

30%~70% method is used to measure the rise time and fall time. On the other hand
50%~50% method is used in case of measuring propagation delay. At first these
parameters are measured with out load, which represent the effect of parasitic
capacitance. Afterward, same capacitive load is applied to the output node of each flip
flop to analyze the loading effect.
Measured data at different clock frequencies:
Table 3: Rise time, fall time and delay at different output nodes.
Rise Time (ps)
fclock
(MHz)

Fall Time (ps)

D

Delay (ps)
D

329.41 221.22 190.29 197.69 220.72 157.27 133.91 136.95 631.71 522.66 489.98 495.63

10

323.83 217.49 189.45 196.48 217.96 155.65 132.94 134.57 628.58 522.96 489.23 495.61

50

329.48 218.41 189.13 195.65 225.56 155.08 132.89 134.21 631.74 522.64 489.97 495.29

100

324.49 218.44 189.33 195.67 218.83 154.93 133.04 134.73 628.55 523.03 488.86 495.68

Measured data at different capacitive loads with 10MHz clock frequency:

Table 4: Rise time, fall time and delay at different output nodes in loaded condition..
Rise Time (ns)

Fall Time (ns)

Delay (ns)

3.16

3.06

3.03

3.05

3.42

3.34

3.32

3.31

4.84

4.7

4.69

4.72

5.85

5.72

5.73

5.75

6.57

6.46

6.51

6.51

8.92

8.79

8.76

8.77

8.53

8.41

8.37

8.42

9.76

9.69

9.68

9.67

12.95

12.81

12.81

12.83

11.21

11.06

11.03

11.02

12.95

12.88

12.86

12.86

16.97

16.83

16.81

16.85

Cload (pF)

Above tables show the loading effect on the output node of the counter. There is
negligible variation in rise time, fall time and propagation delay, if we increase the clock

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frequency at no load condition. But there is almost linear increment of these values with
the increase of capacitive load.
Following figures show the variation of rise time, fall time and propagation delay with
frequency at no load condition:

Rise Time without Load

350

Time (ps)

300
250

200

150

C
D

100
50
0
1

10

50

100

Clock Frequency (MHz)

Figure 13: Variation of rise time with frequency

Fall Time without Load
250

Time (ps)

200
A
150

100

C
D

50
0
1

10

50

100

Clock Frequency (MHz)

Figure 14: Variation of fall time with frequency

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Propagation Delay without Load

700

Time (ps)

600
500

400

300

200

100
0
1

10

50

100

Clock Frequency (MHz)

Figure 15: Variation of propagation delay with frequency

Following figures show the variation of rise time, fall time and propagation delay with
load capacitance at 10MHz clock frequency:

Rise Time with Load

12

Time (ns)

10
A

2
0
1

Load Capacitance (pF)

Figure 16: Variation of rise time with load capacitance.

15

Fall Time without Load

14

Time (ns)

12
10

2
0
1

Load Capacitance (pF)

Figure 17: Variation of fall time with load capacitance.

Time (ns)

Propagation Delay with Load

18
16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0

A
B
C
D

Load Capacitance (pF)

Figure 18: Variation of propagation delay with load capacitance.

Though there are slight variations in rise time fall time and propagation delay among four
output nodes, they show exactly same behavior at loaded condition. So, parasitic
capacitance has negligible effect in comparison to load capacitance.

IX. Application:

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Counter can be considered as a heart of different digital and analog circuit. There are vast
applications of counter in the field of electronics. Only few of them are mentioned below

Some times we need different clock frequencies for the operation of different
parts of a large circuit. In that case counter can be efficiently used as a frequency
divider. From a 4 bit synchronous counter we can get four different frequencies
with a multiple of two.

Digital counter acts as a key part in the implementation of time dependent digital
logic control circuit. Coffee vending machine, microwave oven etc.- are some
very good example of such kind of circuits

Layout of the Students

Layout 1

17

Layout 2

18

Layout 3

19

Layout 4

20

Layout 5

21

Layout 6

22

Layout 7

23

Layout 8

24

Layout 9

25

Layout 10

26

27

Layout 11

Layout 12

28

Layout 13

29

30