Modern VLSI Design: IP-Based Design, Fourth Edition

5Sequential Machines

Highlights:

Latches and flip-flops.Clocking structures and timing disciplines.Sequential system design.Verification and testing of FSMs.

Model system for clock skew in flip-flop based machines (Figure 5-34).

5.1 Introduction

A sequential machine is a machine for which the output values depend not only on the present input values but also the history of previous inputs. The sequential machine’s memory lets us build much more sophisticated functions; it also complicates design, validation, and testing.

In this chapter we will learn the design methods common to all sequential systems.