How a latch/flip-flop goes metastable

In the post metastability, we discussed that inverter loop can be put into a meta-stable state. Since, latches and flip-flops consist of inverter loops controlled by transmission gates, they also are susceptible to meta-stability. For instance, consider a negative latch as shown in figure 1 and the clock waveform alongside. The instance of interest to us is the instance when switch_1 closes or at the transparency_close edge of the latch. Also, we know from theory two important concepts, "setup time" and "hold time". Let us call the region between setup time and hold time as setup-hold-window. If the data toggles before setup-hold-window, it is guaranteed to get captured and propagated to latch output. If data toggles after setup-hold-window, it is guaranteed not to get propagated to latch output. On the other hand, if it toggles during setup-hold-window, it may or may not propagate to the output. Also, it may happen that when the switch closes, the input level is such that latch goes into metastable state.

Figure 1: How latch goes into metastable state

As is evident from figure 1, input is still transitioning when switch has closed and the output goes metastable.

Similarly, as a flip-flop is also composed of latches configured in master-slave configuration, a flip-flop also goes metastable by same way. In general, we can describe it as:

A flip-flop/latch has a defined timing requirement in terms of when data should be available at its input so that it is correctly captured. These requirements are termed as setup and hold times. If these requirements are not met, there is a possibility of flip-flop going metastable.

In general, following are the scenarios which can cause a flip-flop's output to go metastable.

• Asynchronous timing paths: Paths crossing clock domains, where the launch and capture clocks do not have definite phase relationship, cannot be assured to be captured outside setup/hold window.

• If there is a timing path violating setup and/or hold, then the capturing flip-flop will go metastable at a certain PVT, where it is probable to get captured in setup-hold-window

How metastability impacts design:  Let us assume that the output of flip-flop goes to a number of gates (say 100). So, as long as the flip-flop is in metastable range, it will cause short circuit current to flow in all the gates. This link shows the short circuit current to be in the range of 100 uA. So, large amount of short circuit current will flow for a considerable amount of time.

What helps a flip-flop come out of metastability?

As described earlier, theoretically, it is possible for the flip-flop to remain in metastable state for infinite time in the absense of any disturbance. However, there are certain factors, which help it to come out of metastability.

• Ability of the inverter pair to detect a disturbance and act on it: If the inverter pair is able to detect even a smallest of the disturbances, it will act upon it and eventually come out of metastability. So, having these characteristics for transistors in inverter pair will help:
• Low VT
• High drive strength

• Higher the time available for metastability resolution, more chances of having disturbance; hence, flip-flop will eventuall come out of metastability

In general, the ability of a flip-flop to come out of metastability is measured by a parameter known as MTBF (Mean Time Between Failures). It can be thought of as inverse of failure rate. Higher the MTBF, higher the probability of flip-flop coming out of metastability within a given time. It depends upon:

• Technology factors
• Time available to resolve metastability: Higher the time available, higher is MTBF
• Frequency of the clock received by flip-flop: Higher the frequency of clock, lower is MTBF
• Frequency of toggling of data received by flip-flop: Higher is frequency of data, lower is MTBF
• Internal design of flip-flop: Ability of flip-flop to act on smallest of disturbances, as discussed earlier. In general, a flip-flop consuming more power and having high gain will be able to come out of metastability quickly