Intel® MAX® 10 Clocking and PLL User Guide

ID 683047
Date 12/26/2023
Public
Document Table of Contents

2.3.12.1. Automatic Clock Switchover

The Intel® MAX® 10 PLLs support a fully configurable clock switchover capability.

Figure 20. Automatic Clock Switchover Circuit Block DiagramThis figure shows a block diagram of the automatic switchover circuit built into the PLL.

When the current reference clock is not present, the clock sense block automatically switches to the backup clock for PLL reference. You can select a clock source at the backup clock by connecting it to the inclk1 port of the PLL in your design.

The clock switchover circuit also sends out three status signals—clkbad[0], clkbad[1], and activeclock—from the PLL to implement a custom switchover circuit in the logic array.

In automatic switchover mode, the clkbad[0] and clkbad[1] signals indicate the status of the two clock inputs. When the clkbad[0] and clkbad[1] signals are asserted, the clock sense block detects that the corresponding clock input has stopped toggling. These two signals are not valid if the frequency difference between inclk0 and inclk1 is greater than 20%.

The activeclock signal indicates which of the two clock inputs (inclk0 or inclk1) is selected as the reference clock to the PLL. When the frequency difference between the two clock inputs is more than 20%, the activeclock signal is the only valid status signal.

Note: Glitches in the input clock may cause the frequency difference between the input clocks to be more than 20%.

When the current reference clock to the PLL stops toggling, use the switchover circuitry to automatically switch from inclk0 to inclk1 that runs at the same frequency. This automatic switchover can switch back and forth between the inclk0 and inclk1 clocks any number of times when one of the two clocks fails and the other clock is available.

For example, in applications that require a redundant clock with the same frequency as the reference clock, the switchover state machine generates a signal (clksw) that controls the multiplexer select input. In this case, inclk1 becomes the reference clock for the PLL.

When using automatic clock switchover mode, the following requirements must be satisfied:

  • Both clock inputs must be running when the FPGA is configured.
  • The period of the two clock inputs differ by no more than 20%.

If the current clock input stops toggling while the other clock is also not toggling, switchover is not initiated and the clkbad[0..1] signals are not valid. If both clock inputs do not have the same frequency, but their period difference is within 20%, the clock sense block detects when a clock stops toggling. However, the PLL might lose lock after the switchover completes and needs time to relock.

Note: Intel recommends resetting the PLL using the areset signal to maintain the phase relationships between the PLL input and output clocks when using clock switchover.
Figure 21. Example of Automatic Switchover After Loss of Clock DetectionThis figure shows an example waveform of the switchover feature in automatic switchover mode. In this example, the inclk0 signal remains low. After the inclk0 signal remains low for approximately two clock cycles, the clock sense circuitry drives the clkbad[0] signal high. Since the reference clock signal is not toggling, the switchover state machine controls the multiplexer through the clksw signal to switch to the backup clock, inclk1.