GPIO DDRIO IP output swapped: datainhi/datainlo inverts forwarded clock
I have a source-synchronous interface for which I am forwarding a clock with a DDRIO register as recommended in AN433 pp6-7 to minimize skew between the clock and data waveform:
I created a GPIO IP in Quartus Prime Pro 21.1 to forward the clock:
and instantiate as follows:
module ddriotest ( input logic clk, output logic clk_fwd, output logic [7:0] data ); // forward clock ddr_output i_ddr ( .ck(clk), .din(2'b10), .pad_out(clk_fwd) ); // generate example source synchronous output data logic [7:0] count = '0; always @(posedge clk) count <= count + 1'b1; always @(posedge clk) data <= count; endmodule
When I look at the post-fitter technology map netlist, I see DATAINHI = 1'b1 and DATAINLO = 1'b0 on the DDIO_OUT primitive, which matches the connections shown in AN433 to forward the clock (see pic above for comparison):
But when I simulate this project, I see:
Notice that clk and clk_fwd are inverted with respect to one another! I believe they should be in-phase aside from Tco delay and clock delay, and both of those delays wouldn't be present in this functional sim. I have to swap din[0] and din[1]to get desired behavior. I have good reason to believe this is happening with the actual hardware as well, so it isn't just a sim issue. I've followed the connection all the way to the cyclone10gx_ver.cyclone10gx_ddio_out primitive, which is encrypted so I can't look any further.
Why is this inversion taking place?
I'm using Quartus Prime Pro 21.1 and GPIO IP 20.0 with Questa Intel Starter Edition-64 21.1 (beta) for a Cyclone 10 GX device. Full example project and sim attached.
Thanks,
Paul
Hello Paul,
We have checked the design. We think it may be because of your coding design. We switched your 10 to 01 and got this result. Is this what you are expecting?
Image 1: Waveform
Image 2: Design
Image 3: Reference from https://www.intel.com/content/dam/www/programmable/us/en/pdfs/literature/ug/ug_altera_gpio.pdf
Thank you.