External Memory Interface Handbook Volume 3: Reference Material: For UniPHY-based Device Families

ID 683841
Date 3/06/2023
Public
Document Table of Contents

4.14.3.1. Analysis of Debug Report

The following analysis helps you interpret the debug report.

  • The Read Deskew and Write Deskew results shown in the debug report are before calibration. (Before calibration results are actually from the window seen during calibration, and are most useful for debugging.)
  • For each DQ group, the Write Deskew, Read Deskew, DM Deskew, and Read after Write results map to the before-calibration margins reported in the EMIF Debug Toolkit.
    Note: The Write Deskew, Read Deskew, DM Deskew, and Read after Write results are reported in delay steps (nominally 25ps, in Arria V and Cyclone V devices), not in picoseconds.
  • DQS Enable calibration is reported as a VFIFO setting (in one clock period steps), a phase tap (in one-eighth clock period steps), and a delay chain step (in 25ps steps).
    SEQ.C: DQS Enable ; Group 0 ; Rank 0 ; Start  VFIFO  5 ; Phase 6 ; Delay  4
    SEQ.C: DQS Enable ; Group 0 ; Rank 0 ; End    VFIFO  6 ; Phase 5 ; Delay  9
    SEQ.C: DQS Enable ; Group 0 ; Rank 0 ; Center VFIFO  6 ; Phase 2 ; Delay  1
    Analysis of DQS Enable results: A VFIFO tap is 1 clock period, a phase is 1/8 clock period (45 degrees) and delay is nominally 25ps per tap. The DQSen window is the difference between the start and end—for the above example, assuming a frequency of 400 MHz (2500ps), that calculates as follows: start is 5*2500 + 6*2500/8 +4*25 = 14475ps. By the same calculation, the end is 16788ps. Consequently, the DQSen window is 2313ps.
  • The size of a read window or write window is equal to (left edge + right edge) * delay chain step size. Both the left edge and the right edge can be negative or positive.:
    SEQ.C: Read Deskew  ; DQ  0 ; Rank 0 ; Left edge  18 ; Right edge  27 ; DQ delay  0 ; DQS delay  8
    SEQ.C: Write Deskew ; DQ  0 ; Rank 0 ; Left edge  30 ; Right edge  17 ; DQ delay  6 ; DQS delay  4
    Analysis of DQ and DQS delay results: The DQ and DQS output delay (write) is the D5 delay chain. The DQ input delay (read) is the D1 delay chain, the DQS input delay (read) is the D4 delay chain.
  • Consider the following example of latency results:
    SEQ.C: LFIFO Calibration ; Latency 10
    Analysis of latency results: This is the calibrated PHY read latency. The EMIF Debug Toolkit does not report this figure. This latency is reported in clock cycles.
  • Consider the following example of FOM results:
    SEQ.C: FOM IN  = 83
    SEQ.C: FOM OUT = 91
    Analysis of FOM results: The FOM IN value is a measure of the health of the read interface; it is calculated as the sum over all groups of the minimum margin on DQ plus the margin on DQS, divided by 2. The FOM OUT is a measure of the health of the write interface; it is calculated as the sum over all groups of the minimum margin on DQ plus the margin on DQS, divided by 2. You may refer to these values as indicators of improvement when you are experimenting with various termination schemes, assuming there are no individual misbehaving DQ pins.
  • The debug report does not provide delay chain step size values. The delay chain step size varies with device speed grade. Refer to your device data sheet for exact incremental delay values for delay chains.