HAZARD FREE DESIGN OF MIXED OPERATING MODE ASYNCHRONOUS SEQUENTIAL-CIRCUITS

This paper presents a hazard-free design methodology for the design of asynchronous sequential circuits based on a combination of synchronous and asynchronous circuit elements. Earlier approaches to essential hazard-free design of asynchronous sequential circuits are based on any one of the two design philosophies: by the addition of delay elements to the state output, or by input gate modification. The former approach makes the whole design slower. On the other hand, the latter approach is based on the assumption that the gate delays are always higher than any wire delay present in the network, but in VLSI circuits the above assumption may not be true. The design in this paper makes no assumption about the delays of the network and hence is applicable to any environment. In addition, the design in this paper uses the minimum number of self-synchronous transitions, thus making it faster than the earlier designs. © 1990 Taylor and Francis Ltd.