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

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

16.8. Driver Margining for Arria 10 EMIF IP

The Driver Margining feature lets you measure margins on your memory interface using a driver with arbitrary traffic patterns.

Margins measured with this feature may differ from margins measured during calibration, because of different traffic patterns. Driver margining is not available if ECC is enabled.

To use driver margining, ensure that the following signals on the driver are connected to In-System Sources/Probes:

  • Reset_n: An active low reset signal
  • Pass: A signal which indicates that the driver test has completed successfully. No further memory transactions must be sent after this signal is asserted.
  • Fail: A signal which indicates that the driver test has failed. No further memory transactions must be sent after this signal is asserted.
  • PNF (Pass Not Fail): An array of signals that indicate the pass/fail status of individual bits of a data burst. The PNF should be arranged such that each bit index corresponds to (Bit of burst * DQ width) + (DQ pin). A 1 indicates pass, 0 indicates fail. If the PNF width exceeds the capacity of one In-System Probe, specify them in PNF[1] and PNF[2]; otherwise, leave them blank.

If you are using the example design for EMIF, the In-System Sources/Probes can be enabled by adding the following line to your .qsf file:

set_global_assignment -name VERILOG_MACRO "ALTERA_EMIF_ENABLE_ISSP=1"