A comparison of self-timed design using FPGA, CMOS, and GaAs technologies

Asynchronous or self-timed systems that do not rely on U global clock to keep system components synchronized can offer significant advantages over traditional clocked circuits in a variety of applications. One advantage is that because of the separation of timing, from, functionality in these systems, the same circuit may he implemented in U variety of technologies without modification to the circuit. In this paper we explore one approach to self-timed design and describe implementations of an example circuit in three different technologies. The simple routing chip used us the example has been described by writing U program in OCCAM, translated into U circuit consisting of a small set of basic modules, and implemented using Actel FPGA, CMOS, and GuAs technologies.