Using MMCM Settings to Reduce Clock Uncertainty - 2021.2 English

UltraFast Design Methodology Guide for Xilinx FPGAs and SoCs

Document ID
UG949
Release Date
2021-11-19
Version
2021.2 English
Note: The report_qor_suggestions Tcl command flags this issue.

When configuring an MMCM for frequency synthesis, Xilinx recommends configuring the MMCM to achieve the lowest output jitter on the clocks. Optimize the MMCM settings to run at the highest possible voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) frequency that meets the allowed operating range for the device. The following equations show the relationship between VCO frequency, M (multiplier), D (divider), and O (output divider) settings to both the input and output clock frequencies:





Tip: You can increase the VCO frequency by increasing M, lowering D, or both and compensating for the change in frequency by increasing O. Increases in VCO frequency negatively affects the power dissipation from the MMCM or PLL. You can also make small increases in the VCO frequency when you switch from multiple MMCM clock outputs using BUFGs to one MMCM clock output using BUFGCE_DIVs, which allows more clocks to use the fractional divider. When selecting between MMCM and PLL, MMCMs are preferred because they are able to operate at a higher VCO frequency, have improved granularity for selecting M and D values, and have fractional dividers (CLKOUT0).
Different architectures have different VCO frequency maximums. Therefore, Xilinx recommends regenerating clocking components to be optimal for your target architecture. Xilinx recommends using the Clocking Wizard to automatically calculate M and D values along with the VCO frequency to properly configure an MMCM for the target device.
Tip: When using the Clocking Wizard from the IP catalog, make sure that Jitter Optimization Setting is set to the Minimize Output Jitter, which provides the higher VCO frequency. In addition, performing marginal changes to the desired output clock frequency can allow for an even higher VCO frequency to further reduce clock uncertainty.

The following MMCM frequency synthesis example uses an input clock of 62.5 MHz to generate an output clock of approximately 40 MHz. There are two solutions, but the MMCM_2 with a higher VCO frequency generates less clock uncertainty due to reduced jitter and phase error.

Table 1. MMCM Frequency Synthesis Example
  MMCM_1 MMCM_2
Input clock 62.5 MHz 62.5 MHz
Output clock 40.0 MHz 39.991 MHz
CLKFBOUT_MULT_F(M) 16 22.875
DIVCLK_DIVIDE(D) 1 1
VCO Frequency 1000.000 MHz 1429.688
CLKOUT0_DIVIDE_F(O) 25 35.750
Jitter (ps) 167.542 128.632
Phase Error (ps) 384.432 123.641