SLASEA6D February   2017  – June 2020 DAC38RF82 , DAC38RF89

PRODUCTION DATA.  

  1. Features
  2. Applications
  3. Description
    1.     32x6 MHz 256-QAM Carriers
  4. Revision History
  5. Device Comparison Table
  6. Pin Configuration and Functions
    1.     Pin Functions
  7. Specifications
    1. 7.1  Absolute Maximum Ratings
    2. 7.2  ESD Ratings
    3. 7.3  Recommended Operating Conditions
    4. 7.4  Thermal Information
    5. 7.5  Electrical Characteristics - DC Specifications
    6. 7.6  Electrical Characteristics - Digital Specifications
    7. 7.7  Electrical Characteristics - AC Specifications
    8. 7.8  PLL/VCO Electrical Characteristics
    9. 7.9  Timing Requirements
    10. 7.10 Typical Characteristics
  8. Detailed Description
    1. 8.1 Overview
    2. 8.2 Functional Block Diagrams
    3. 8.3 Feature Description
      1. 8.3.1  SerDes Inputs
      2. 8.3.2  SerDes Rate
      3. 8.3.3  SerDes PLL
      4. 8.3.4  SerDes Equalizer
      5. 8.3.5  JESD204B Descrambler
      6. 8.3.6  JESD204B Frame Assembly
      7. 8.3.7  SYNC Interface
      8. 8.3.8  Single or Dual Link Configuration
      9. 8.3.9  Multi-Device Synchronization
      10. 8.3.10 SYSREF Capture Circuit
      11. 8.3.11 SerDes Test Modes through Serial Programming
      12. 8.3.12 SerDes Test Modes through IEEE 1500 Programming
      13. 8.3.13 Error Counter
      14. 8.3.14 Eye Scan
      15. 8.3.15 JESD204B Pattern Test
      16. 8.3.16 Wideband DUC (wide-DUC)
      17. 8.3.17 Interpolation Block
        1. 8.3.17.1 Multi-DUC input
        2. 8.3.17.2 Interpolation Filters
        3. 8.3.17.3 JESD204B Modes, Interpolation and Clock phase Programming
        4. 8.3.17.4 Digital Quadrature Modulator
        5. 8.3.17.5 Low Power Coarse Resolution Mixing Modes
        6. 8.3.17.6 Inverse Sinc Filter
      18. 8.3.18 PA Protection Block
      19. 8.3.19 Gain Block
      20. 8.3.20 Output Summation
      21. 8.3.21 Output Delay
      22. 8.3.22 Polarity Inversion
      23. 8.3.23 Temperature Sensor
      24. 8.3.24 Alarm Monitoring
      25. 8.3.25 Differential Clock Inputs
      26. 8.3.26 CMOS Digital Inputs
      27. 8.3.27 DAC Fullscale Output Current
      28. 8.3.28 Current Steering DAC Architecture
      29. 8.3.29 DAC Transfer Function
    4. 8.4 Device Functional Modes
      1. 8.4.1 Clocking Modes
      2. 8.4.2 PLL Bypass Mode Programming
      3. 8.4.3 Internal PLL/VCO
      4. 8.4.4 CLKOUT
      5. 8.4.5 Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI)
        1. 8.4.5.1 NORMAL (RW)
        2. 8.4.5.2 WRITE_TO_CLEAR (W0C)
        3. 8.4.5.3 Writing to Reserved Bits
    5. 8.5 Register Maps
      1. 8.5.1  Chip Reset and Configuration Register (address = 0x00) [reset = 0x5803]
        1. Table 48. RESET_CONFIG Field Descriptions
      2. 8.5.2  IO Configuration Register (address = 0x01) [reset = 0x1800]
        1. Table 49. IO_CONFIG Field Descriptions
      3. 8.5.3  Lane Single Detect Alarm Mask Register (address = 0x02) [reset = 0xFFFF]
        1. Table 50. ALM_SD_MASK Field Descriptions
      4. 8.5.4  Clock Alarms Mask Register (address = 0x03) [reset = 0xFFFF
        1. Table 51. ALM_CLK_MASK Field Descriptions
      5. 8.5.5  SERDES Loss of Signal Detection Alarms Register (address = 0x04) [reset = variable]
        1. Table 52. ALM_SD_DET Field Descriptions
      6. 8.5.6  SYSREF Alignment Circuit Alarms Register (address = 0x05) [reset = variable]
        1. Table 53. ALM_SYSREF_DET Field Descriptions
      7. 8.5.7  Temperature Sensor and PLL Loop Voltage Register (address = 0x06) [reset = variable]
        1. Table 54. TEMP_PLLVOLT Field Descriptions
      8. 8.5.8  Page Set Register (address = 0x09) [reset = 0x0000]
        1. Table 55. PAGE_SET Field Descriptions
      9. 8.5.9  SYSREF Align to r1 and r3 Count Register (address = 0x78) [reset = 0x0000]
        1. Table 56. SYSREF_ALIGN_R Field Descriptions
      10. 8.5.10 SYSREF Phase Count 1 and 2 Register (address = 0x79) [reset = 0x0000]
        1. Table 57. SYSREF12_CNT Field Descriptions
      11. 8.5.11 SYSREF Phase Count 3 and 4 Register (address = 0x7A) [reset = 0x0000]
        1. Table 58. SYSREF34_CNT Field Descriptions
      12. 8.5.12 Vendor ID and Chip Version Register (address = 0x7F) [reset = 0x0009]
        1. Table 59. VENDOR_VER Field Descriptions
      13. 8.5.13 Multi-DUC Configuration (PAP, Interpolation) Register (address = 0x0A) [reset = 0x02B0]
        1. Table 60. MULTIDUC_CFG1 Field Descriptions
      14. 8.5.14 Multi-DUC Configuration (Mixers) Register (address = 0x0C) [reset = 0x2402]
        1. Table 61. MULTIDUC_CFG2 Field Descriptions
      15. 8.5.15 JESD FIFO Control Register (address = 0x0D)[reset = 0x8000]
        1. Table 62. JESD_FIFO Field Descriptions
      16. 8.5.16 Alarm Mask 1 Register (address = 0x0E) [reset = 0x00FF]
        1. Table 63. ALM_MASK1 Field Descriptions
      17. 8.5.17 Alarm Mask 2 Register (address = 0x0F) [reset = 0xFFFF]
        1. Table 64. ALM_MASK2 Field Descriptions
      18. 8.5.18 Alarm Mask 3 Register (address = 0x10) [reset = 0xFFFF]
        1. Table 65. ALM_MASK3 Field Descriptions
      19. 8.5.19 Alarm Mask 4 Register (address = 0x11) [reset = 0xFFFF]
        1. Table 66. ALM_MASK4 Field Descriptions
      20. 8.5.20 JESD Lane Skew Register (address = 0x12) [reset = 0x0000]
        1. Table 67. JESD_LN_SKEW Field Descriptions
      21. 8.5.21 CMIX Configuration Register (address = 0x17) [reset = 0x0000]
        1. Table 68. CMIX Field Descriptions
      22. 8.5.22 Output Summation and Delay Register (address = 0x19) [reset = 0x0000]
        1. Table 69. OUTSUM Field Descriptions
      23. 8.5.23 NCO Phase Path AB Register (address = 0x1C) [reset = 0x0000]
        1. Table 70. PHASE_NCOAB Field Descriptions
      24. 8.5.24 NCO Phase Path CD Register (address = 0x1D) [reset = 0x0000]
        1. Table 71. PHASE_NCOCD Field Descriptions
      25. 8.5.25 NCO Frequency Path AB Register (address = 0x1E-0x20) [reset = 0x0000 0000 0000]
        1. Table 72. FREQ_NCOAB Field Descriptions
      26. 8.5.26 NCO Frequency Path CD Register (address = 0x21-0x23) [reset = 0x0000 0000 0000]
        1. Table 73. FREQ_NCOCD Field Descriptions
      27. 8.5.27 SYSREF Use for Clock Divider Register (address = 0x24) [reset = 0x0010]
        1. Table 74. SYSREF_CLKDIV Field Descriptions
      28. 8.5.28 Serdes Clock Control Register (address = 0x25) [reset = 0x7700]
        1. Table 75. SERDES_CLK Field Descriptions
      29. 8.5.29 Sync Source Control 1 Register (address = 0x27) [reset = 0x1144]
        1. Table 76. SYNCSEL1 Field Descriptions
      30. 8.5.30 Sync Source Control 2 Register (address = 0x28) [reset = 0x0000]
        1. Table 77. SYNCSEL2 Field Descriptions
      31. 8.5.31 PAP path AB Gain Attenuation Step Register (address = 0x29) [reset = 0x0000]
        1. Table 78. PAP_GAIN_AB Field Descriptions
      32. 8.5.32 PAP path AB Wait Time Register (address = 0x2A) [reset = 0x0000]
        1. Table 79. PAP_WAIT_AB Field Descriptions
      33. 8.5.33 PAP path CD Gain Attenuation Step Register (address = 0x2B) [reset = 0x0000]
        1. Table 80. PAP_GAIN_CD Field Descriptions
      34. 8.5.34 PAP Path CD Wait Time Register (address = 0x2C) [reset = 0x0000]
        1. Table 81. PAP_WAIT_CD Field Descriptions
      35. 8.5.35 PAP path AB Configuration Register (address = 0x2D) [reset = 0x0FFF]
        1. Table 82. PAP_CFG_AB Field Descriptions
      36. 8.5.36 PAP path CD Configuration Register (address = 0x2E) [reset = 0x0FFF]
        1. Table 83. PAP_CFG_CD Field Descriptions
      37. 8.5.37 DAC SPI Configuration Register (address = 0x2F) [reset = 0x0000]
        1. Table 84. SPIDAC_TEST1 Field Descriptions
      38. 8.5.38 DAC SPI Constant Register (address = 0x30) [reset = 0x0000]
        1. Table 85. SPIDAC_TEST2 Field Descriptions
      39. 8.5.39 Gain for path AB Register (address = 0x32) [reset = 0x0400]
        1. Table 86. GAINAB Field Descriptions
      40. 8.5.40 Gain for path CD Register (address = 0x33) [reset = 0x0400]
        1. Table 87. GAINCD Field Descriptions
      41. 8.5.41 JESD Error Counter Register (address = 0x41) [reset = 0x0000]
        1. Table 88. JESD_ERR_CNT Field Descriptions
      42. 8.5.42 JESD ID 1 Register (address = 0x46) [reset = 0x0044]
        1. Table 89. JESD_ID1 Field Descriptions
      43. 8.5.43 JESD ID 2 Register (address = 0x47) [reset = 0x190A]
        1. Table 90. JESD ID 2 Register (JESD_ID2)
      44. 8.5.44 JESD ID 3 and Subclass Register (address = 0x48) [reset = 0x31C3]
        1. Table 91. JESD_ID3 Field Descriptions
      45. 8.5.45 JESD Lane Enable Register (address = 0x4A) [reset = 0x0003]
        1. Table 92. JESD_LN_EN Field Descriptions
      46. 8.5.46 JESD RBD Buffer and Frame Octets Register (address = 0x4B) [reset = 0x1300]
        1. Table 93. JESD_RBD_F Field Descriptions
      47. 8.5.47 JESD K and L Parameters Register (address = 0x4C) [reset = 0x1303]
        1. Table 94. JESD_K_L Field Descriptions
      48. 8.5.48 JESD M and S Parameters Register (address = 0x4D) [reset = 0x0100]
        1. Table 95. JESD_M_S Field Descriptions
      49. 8.5.49 JESD N, HD and SCR Parameters Register (address = 0x4E) [reset = 0x0F4F]
        1. Table 96. JESD_N_HD_SCR Field Descriptions
      50. 8.5.50 JESD Character Match and Other Register (address = 0x4F) [reset = 0x1CC1]
        1. Table 97. JESD_MATCH Field Descriptions
      51. 8.5.51 JESD Link Configuration Data Register (address = 0x50) [reset = 0x0000]
        1. Table 98. JESD_Link_CFG Field Descriptions
      52. 8.5.52 JESD Sync Request Register (address = 0x51) [reset = 0x00FF]
        1. Table 99. JESD_SYNC_REQ Field Descriptions
      53. 8.5.53 JESD Error Output Register (address = 0x52) [reset = 0x00FF]
        1. Table 100. JESD_ERR_OUT Field Descriptions
      54. 8.5.54 JESD ILA Check 1 Register (address = 0x53) [reset = 0x0100]
        1. Table 101. JESD_ILA_CFG1 Field Descriptions
      55. 8.5.55 JESD ILA Check 2 Register (address = 0x54) [reset = 0x8E60]
        1. Table 102. JESD_ILA_CFG2 Field Descriptions
      56. 8.5.56 JESD SYSREF Mode Register (address = 0x5C) [reset = 0x0001]
        1. Table 103. JESD_SYSR_MODE Field Descriptions
      57. 8.5.57 JESD Crossbar Configuration 1 Register (address = 0x5F) [reset = 0x0123]
        1. Table 104. JESD_CROSSBAR1 Field Descriptions
      58. 8.5.58 JESD Crossbar Configuration 2 Register (address = 0x60) [reset = 0x4567]
        1. Table 105. JESD_CROSSBAR2 Field Descriptions
      59. 8.5.59 JESD Alarms for Lane 0 Register (address = 0x64) [reset = 0x0000]
        1. Table 106. JESD_ALM_L0 Field Descriptions
      60. 8.5.60 JESD Alarms for Lane 1 Register (address = 0x65) [reset = 0x0000]
        1. Table 107. JESD_ALM_L1 Field Descriptions
      61. 8.5.61 JESD Alarms for Lane 2 Register (address = 0x66) [reset = 0x0000]
        1. Table 108. JESD_ALM_L2 Field Descriptions
      62. 8.5.62 JESD Alarms for Lane 3 Register (address = 0x67) [reset = 0x0000]
        1. Table 109. JESD_ALM_L3 Field Descriptions
      63. 8.5.63 JESD Alarms for Lane 4 Register (address = 0x68) [reset = 0x0000]
        1. Table 110. JESD_ALM_L4 Field Descriptions
      64. 8.5.64 JESD Alarms for Lane 5 Register (address = 0x69) [reset = 0x0000]
        1. Table 111. JESD_ALM_L5 Field Descriptions
      65. 8.5.65 JESD Alarms for Lane 6 Register (address = 0x6A [reset = 0x0000]
        1. Table 112. JESD_ALM_L6 Field Descriptions
      66. 8.5.66 JESD Alarms for Lane 7 Register (address = 0x6B) [reset = 0x0000]
        1. Table 113. JESD Alarms for Lane 7 Register (JESD_ALM_L7)
      67. 8.5.67 SYSREF and PAP Alarms Register (address = 0x6C) [reset = 0x0000]
        1. Table 114. ALM_SYSREF_PAP Field Descriptions
      68. 8.5.68 Clock Divider Alarms 1 Register (address = 0x6D) [reset = 0x0000]
        1. Table 115. ALM_CLKDIV1 Field Descriptions
      69. 8.5.69 Clock Configuration Register (address = 0x0A) [reset = 0xFC03]
        1. Table 116. CLK_CONFIG Field Descriptions
      70. 8.5.70 Sleep Configuration Register (address = 0x0B) [reset = 0x0022]
        1. Table 117. SLEEP_CONFIG Field Descriptions
      71. 8.5.71 Divided Output Clock Configuration Register (address = 0x0C) [reset = 0x2002]
        1. Table 118. CLK_OUT Field Descriptions
      72. 8.5.72 DAC Fullscale Current Register (address = 0x0D) [reset = 0xF000]
        1. Table 119. DACFS Field Descriptions
      73. 8.5.73 Internal SYSREF Generator Register (address = 0x10) [reset = 0x0000]
        1. Table 120. LCMGEN Field Descriptions
      74. 8.5.74 Counter for Internal SYSREF Generator Register (address = 0x11) [reset = 0x0000]
        1. Table 121. LCMGEN_DIV Field Descriptions
      75. 8.5.75 SPI SYSREF for Internal SYSREF Generator Register (address = 0x12) [reset = 0x0000]
        1. Table 122. LCMGEN_SPISYSREF Field Descriptions
      76. 8.5.76 Digital Test Signals Register (address = 0x1B) [reset = 0x0000]
        1. Table 123. DTEST Field Descriptions
      77. 8.5.77 Sleep Pin Control Register (address = 0x23) [reset = 0xFFFF]
        1. Table 124. SLEEP_CNTL Field Descriptions
      78. 8.5.78 SYSREF Capture Circuit Control Register (address = 0x24) [reset = 0x1000]
        1. Table 125. SYSR_CAPTURE Field Descriptions
      79. 8.5.79 Clock Input and PLL Configuration Register (address = 0x31) [reset = 0x0200]
        1. Table 126. Clock Input and PLL Configuration Register (CLK_PLL_CFG)
      80. 8.5.80 PLL Configuration 1 Register (address = 0x32) [reset = 0x0308]
        1. Table 127. CONFIG1 Field Descriptions
      81. 8.5.81 PLL Configuration 2 Register (address = 0x33) [reset = 0x4018]
        1. Table 128. PLL_CONFIG2 Field Descriptions
      82. 8.5.82 LVDS Output Configuration Register (address = 0x34) [reset = 0x0000]
        1. Table 129. LVDS_CONFIG Field Descriptions
      83. 8.5.83 Fuse Farm clock divider Register (address = 0x35) [reset = 0x0018]
        1. Table 130. PLL_FDIV Field Descriptions
      84. 8.5.84 Serdes Clock Configuration Register (address = 0x3B) [reset = 0x1802]
        1. Table 131. SRDS_CLK_CFG Field Descriptions
      85. 8.5.85 Serdes PLL Configuration Register (address = 0x3C) [reset = 0x8228]
        1. Table 132. SRDS_PLL_CFG Field Descriptions
      86. 8.5.86 Serdes Configuration 1 Register (address = 0x3D) [reset = 0x0x0088]
        1. Table 133. RDS_CFG1 Field Descriptions
      87. 8.5.87 Serdes Configuration 2 Register (address = 0x3E) [reset = 0x0x0909]
        1. Table 134. SRDS_CFG2 Field Descriptions
      88. 8.5.88 Serdes Polarity Control Register (address = 0x3F) [reset = 0x0000]
        1. Table 135. SRDS_POL Field Descriptions
      89. 8.5.89 JESD204B SYNCB OUTPUT Register (address = 0x76) [reset = 0x0000]
        1. Table 136. SYNCBOUT Field Descriptions
  9. Application and Implementation
    1. 9.1 Application Information
      1. 9.1.1 Start-up Sequence
    2. 9.2 Typical Application
      1. 9.2.1 Design Requirements
      2. 9.2.2 Detailed Design Procedure
      3. 9.2.3 Calculating the JESD204B SerDes rate
      4. 9.2.4 Calculating valid JESD204B SYSREF Frequency
      5. 9.2.5 Application Curves
  10. 10Power Supply Recommendations
    1. 10.1 Power Supply Sequencing
  11. 11Layout
    1. 11.1 Layout Guidelines
    2. 11.2 Layout Example
  12. 12Device and Documentation Support
    1. 12.1 Related Links
    2. 12.2 Receiving Notification of Documentation Updates
    3. 12.3 Support Resources
    4. 12.4 Trademarks
    5. 12.5 Electrostatic Discharge Caution
    6. 12.6 Glossary
  13. 13Mechanical, Packaging, and Orderable Information

SYSREF Capture Circuit

The JESD204B standard for Device Subclass 1 introduces a SYSREF signal that can be used as a global timing reference to align the phase of the internal local multiframe clock (LMFC) and frame clock across multiple devices. This allows the system to achieve deterministic latency and align data samples across several data converters. The SYSREF signal accomplishes this goal by identifying a device clock edge for each chip that can be used as an alignment reference. In particular, the LMFC and frame clock align to the device clock edge upon which the SYSREF transition from “0” to “1” is sampled. SYSREF may be periodic, one-shot, or “gapped” periodic and its period must be a multiple of the LMFC period.

DAC38RF82 DAC38RF89 SYSREF_signal_timing_SLASEA3.gifFigure 30. SYSREF Signal Timing

With high-speed device clocks, the phase of the SYSREF signals relative to the device clock must meet the setup/hold time requirements of each individual device clock. Historically, this has been done by controlling the board-level routing delay and/or employing commercial clock distribution capable of generating device clocks and SYSREF signals with programmable delays and with the option of splitting SYSREF into multiple SYSREFS, each with its own fine-tuned delay. Since the DAC38RF82 (or DAC38RF89) supports device clock frequencies up to 9 GHz, a SYSREF capture circuit is includes in the DAC38RF82 (or DAC38RF89) that allows a relaxation in meeting the device clock setup and hold.

The SYSREF capture circuit provides:

  • tolerance to manufacturing and environmental variations in SYSREF phase
  • immunity to sampling errors due to setup/hold/meta-stability
  • information about phase of SYSREF relative to DAC clock inside the data converter
  • software compensation for phase misalignment due to PCB design errors

The concepts behind the SYSREF capture scheme are illustrated in Figure 31.

DAC38RF82 DAC38RF89 SYSREF_capture_strategy_SLASEA3.gifFigure 31. SYSREF Capture Strategy and Phase Tolerance Windows

To understand Figure 31, to begin with we’ll ignore the SYSREF phase tolerance windows in the lower portion of the figure and focus on the blue clock waveform at the top of the figure. This waveform represents the device clock input to a particular DAC chip. The green arrows, labeled “R” and “F”, correspond to the rising and falling edges of this clock (ignoring for the moment the additional arrows labeled “ER” and "EF”). While previous devices with lower device clocks captured SYSREF only on the rising edge of the device clock, the new scheme samples SYSREF on the falling edge as well, which provides more flexibility when optimizing the setup and hold time of the SYSREF capture path. Moreover, each time a rising SYSREF edge is captured, the chip remembers the clock phase during which the event occurred, and the system designer can later read back the phase information to observe the SYSREF timing relative to the device clock at the internal capture point. If SYSREF transitions close to the rising or falling clock edge sampling points the capture flop setup and hold time may not be met and the observed phase may be unreliable and subject to meta-stability phenomenon.

To reduce the sensitivity to setup/hold/meta-stability concerns an “early” version of the device clock is generated within the DAC and additional SYSREF samples are taken at the “early falling” and “early rising” edges of the clock (labeled “EF” and “ER”, respectively, in Figure 31). The resulting set of four samples is used to narrow down the timing of the rising SYSREF edge to one of four possible clock phases. If the rising SYSREF transition takes place between the “EF” and “F” samples, then SYSREF is said to occur in phase θ1. Similarly, if it takes place between the “F” and “ER” samples, then it is said to occur in phase θ2. If SYSREF transitions between the “ER” and “R” samples, then it is said to occur in phase θ3. And, finally, if the SYSREF rising edge event happens between the “R” and “EF” samples, then it is said to occur in phase θ4. As mentioned before, the chip remembers all observed SYSREF phases and the user can later read them back. Since the delay between “early” and “on time” versions of the clock is intentionally chosen to be larger than the setup/hold/meta-stability window, at most one of the four samples can be affected even when the SYSREF transitions right at one of the four sampling points. Thus, the uncertainty in the observed SYSREF timing is limited to adjacent phases, and with twice as many sampling phases the resolution of the timing information is improved by a factor of two.

Referring to the lower portion of Figure 31, the user can now see how this information regarding the observed SYSREF phases is used to devise a reliable SYSREF capture methodology with a high degree of tolerance to manufacturing and environmental variations in SYSREF phase. Based on the SYSREF phases observed for a particular DAC chip during system characterization, the system designer can select one of four so-called “phase tolerance window” options (denoted “’00”, “01”, “10”, and “11”) to maximize immunity to manufacturing and environmental variations. For example, consider the default phase tolerance window labeled “window=00” in the figure. If, during characterization, the system designer observes (by reading back the recorded phase observations) that the rising SYSREF edge nominally occurs in either θ1 or θ2 or both (i.e. θ12) then he would program that particular DAC chip to use phase tolerance window “00”. This mapping is indicated in the figure with the label “θ1|θ12|θ2: window=00”. Having programmed the device to use window “00”, all future SYSREF events that occur in θ1 or θ2 would trigger the LMFC and frame clock to be aligned using the following rising clock edge as the alignment reference (as indicated by the red arrow pointing to rising clock edge “R” and labeled “Window=00/01 alignment edge”).

The full extent of each phase tolerance window is indicated in the figure using “box and whisker” plots. For the “window=00” example, the “box” portion of the plot indicates that the phase tolerance window is centered on θ12 (to be precise on the boundary between θ1 and θ2) and the “whisker” portion indicates that even if the rising edge of SYSREF occurs as early as the preceding θ4 or as late as the following θ3 it still results in LMFC and frame clock alignment to the same rising clock edge indicated by the red arrow labeled “Window=00/01 alignment edge”. When programmed for phase tolerance window “00”, the DAC chip is tolerant to variations in the SYSREF timing ranging from a rising SYSREF edge that occurs just after one rising edge of clock to just before the next rising edge of the clock. The qualifying phrases “just after” and “just before” are used here to indicate that the SYSREF transition must occur far enough away from the rising edges of the clock to avoid setup/hold violations and prevent the device from concluding that the SYSREF transition has crossed out off the phase tolerance window when in fact it has not. The tolerance range for window “00” is from rising clock edge to rising clock edge and is indicated in the figure by the green text labeled “tolerance = R↔R”.

Following the above example, if characterization reveals SYSREF timing centered on θ23 then phase tolerance window “01” (with tolerance for SYSREF rising edge events from EF to EF) should be chosen. Notice that this option is tolerant even to rising SYSREF edges that occur after the rising device clock edge (i.e. in θ4) and will treat them just as if they had occurred in one of the earlier three phases, aligning to the same rising device clock edge indicated by the red arrow labeled “Window=00/01 Alignment Edge”. This allows the system designer to tolerate PCB design errors and/or environmental and manufacturing variations – achieving his intended alignment without having to make physical changes to the board to adjust the SYSREF timing.

Similarly, if characterization indicates that SYSREF timing is centered on θ34 or θ41 then phase tolerance window “10” or “11” can be selected, resulting in tolerance for “F↔F” or “ER↔ER” SYSREF timing, respectively. Note, however, that in these two cases the alignment reference edge is by default taken to be the subsequent rising edge of the device clock. Since this may not be the desired behavior, the DAC38RF82 (or DAC38RF89) allows the user to program in an optional alignment offset of θ1 if the default offset of 0 does not achieve the desired alignment. This feature is illustrated in Figure 32 where the user can see that by setting the alignment offset to -1, phase tolerance windows “10” and “11” can be made to trigger alignment to the earlier rising device clock edge used by windows “00” and “01”. Alternatively, the window “00” and “01” alignment edge can be pushed one cycle later by setting their alignment offset to +1.

DAC38RF82 DAC38RF89 optional_SYSREF_alignment_SLASEA3.gifFigure 32. Optional SYSREF Alignment Offset

Several important controls related to SYSREF alignment and capture timing are contained in register SYSR_CAPTURE (8.5.78). For example, as mentioned before, the device is capable of monitoring the observed phases of the rising SYSREF edge events; however, in order to avoid unwanted noise coupling from the SYSREF circuits into the DAC output, the SYSREF monitoring circuits are disabled by default. Field SYSR_STATUS_ENA enables SYSREF status monitoring. Field SYSR_PHASE_WDW contains the the phase tolerance window selected for normal operation, which is optimized during characterization. Field SYSR_ALIGN_DLY contains the control that allows the system designer to optionally offset the SYSREF alignment event by ±1 device clock cycles. Field SYSR_STATUS_ENA enables the SYSREF capture alignment accumulation and will generate alarms when enabled. Writing a “1” to field SYSR_ALIGN_SYNC clears the accumulated SYSREF alignment statistics. The SYSREF alignment block can be bypassed completely by field SYSREF_BYPASS_ALIGN, in which case SYSREF is latched by the rising edge of DACCLK.

When field SYSR_STATUS_ENA is high the device records the phase associated with each SYSREF event for use in characterizing the SYSREF capture timing and selecting an appropriate phase tolerance window. The phase data is available in two forms. First, each of the four phases has a corresponding “sticky” alarm flag indicating which phases have been observed since the last time the register was cleared. In addition, the device also accumulates statistics on the relative number of occurrences of each phase spanning multiple SYSREF events using saturating 8-bit counters. These accumulated real-time SYSREF statistics allow us to account for time-varying effects during characterization such as potential timing differences between the 1st and Nth edges in a “gapped” SYSREF pulse train. The counters are fields PHASE1_CNT and PHASE2_CNT in register SYSREF12_CNT (8.5.10), PHASE3_CNT and PHASE4_CNT in register SYSREF34_CNT (8.5.11), and ALIGN_TO_R1_CNT and ALIGN_TO_R3_CNT in register SYSREF_ALIGN_R (8.5.9).

The accumulated SYSREF statistics can be cleared by writing ‘1’ to SYSR_ALIGN_SYNC. This sync signal affects only the SYSREF statistics monitors and does not cause a sync of any other portions of the design. Before collecting phase statistics, the user must first enable the SYSREF status monitoring logic by setting the SYSR_STATUS_ENA bit. The user must then generate a repeating SYSREF input before using SYSR_ALIGN_SYNC to clear the statistic counters. This is necessary to flush invalid data out of the status pipeline.

The “sticky” alarm flags indicating which of the four phases have been observed since the last SYSR_ALIGN_SYNC write of ‘1’ are fields ALM_SYSRPHASE1 to ALM_SYSRPHASE4 and are contained in the ALM_SYSREF_DET register (8.5.6).