COE 405

INTRODUCTION TO LOGIC DESIGN WITH VERILOG

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OUTLINE
¢ Introduction
¢ Definition of a module
¢ Gate-level modeling
¢ Verilog primitives
¢ Verilog Syntax
¢ Verilog Data Types
¢ Module instantiation
¢ Organization of a Testbench for Verifying a Unit
Under Test (UUT)
¢ Propagation, inertial and transport delay
¢ Truth Table Models of Combinational and
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Sequential Logic with Verilog
INTRODUCTION
¢ Verilog is one of the hardware description
languages (HDL) available in the industry for
hardware designing.
¢ Verilog is a standard HDL (IEEE 1364-1995,
2001, 2005)
¢ It allows designers to design at Behavior Level,
Register Transfer Level (RTL), Gate level and at
switch level.
¢ Parallel not serial (Not like C language).

¢ Verilog can describe everything from single gate

to full computer system. 3
 WHY USE HDL ?
¢ Digital systems are highly complex;
millions of transistors.
¢ For large digital systems, gate-level
design is very difficult to achieve in
a short time.
¢ Verilog allows hardware designers
to express their designs with
behavioral constructs, deferring the
details of implementation to a later l © Intel P4 Processor
stage in the final design. l Introduced in 2000
¢ Computer-aided design tools aid in l 40 Million Transistors
the design process. l 1.5GHz Clock
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A VERILOG MODEL
¢ A digital system can be described at several levels of
details (more details means more design entry time!):
— Gate-level à Net-list similar to schematic or
breadboarding
— Register-transfer-level (RTL): Describing logic between
registers using simple assignment statement (two types of
assignments; continuous and procedural) à logic synthesis
tools convert it to gate-level netlist (gates and FFs)
— Behavioral description: programming-like structures (if-
then-else, case, loops …etc) to describe what the circuit
does (i.e. behavior) rather than how à requires a high-
level synthesis tool to synthesize an RTL implementation
(DP & CU) which can then be synthesized into gate-level
netlist.
¢ A digital system is described as a set of modules à
Basic building block encapsulation 5
 DEFINITION OF A MODULE
¢ The <module name> is an
identifier that uniquely
names the module.
¢ The <port list> is a list of
input, inout and output ports
which are used to connect to
other modules.
¢ Interface: port and
parameter declaration
¢ Body: Internal part of module

¢ Add-ons (optional)
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 THE MODULE INTERFACE
This is the old Verilog
(Verilog-95)

Port List

Port Declaration

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THE MODULE INTERFACE

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DEFINITION OF A MODULE: VERILOG-2005
¢Module & Port Declaration:
module [module-name] #(parameter declarations)
(
[mode] [ data-type] [port-names] ,
[mode] [ data-type] [port-names] ,
...
[mode] [ data-type] [port-names]
);
Mode: input, output or inout
Data-Type: wire, reg or integer (scalar or array) 9
EXAMPLE

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GATE LEVEL MODELING (STRUCTURAL)
¢ Net-list description: built-in primitives gates

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An undeclared identifier is treated by default as a wire
VERILOG PRIMITIVES FOR MODELING
COMBINATIONAL LOGIC GATES
Verilog has 26 primitives for modeling combinational logic gates:
•and
•or
•not
•buf
•xor
•nand
•nor
•xnor
•bufif1, bufif0
•notif1, notif0
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PRIMITIVE PINS ARE EXPANDABLE

nand (y, in1, in2);

nand (y, in1, in2, in3);

nand (y, in1, in2, in3, in4);

The output port of a primitive must be the first in

the list of ports. 13
FULL ADDER MODEL
module fadd (output co, s, input a, b, c);
wire n1, n2, n3;
xor (n1, a, b) ;
xor (s, n1, c) ;
nand (n2, a, b) ;
nand (n3, n1, c) ;
nand (co, n3,n2) ;
endmodule

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VERILOG SYNTAX
¢ Identifiers:
— Composed of letters, digits, the underscore character (_),
and the dollar sign ($). $ is usually used with a system task
or function
— The first character of an identifier must be a letter or
underscore
— Verilog is a case-sensitive language D_BUS is different from
D_Bus
¢ Keywords: predefined identifiers that are used to
describe language constructs. E.g. module, always,
wire …etc. à Can not be used as user-defined
identifiers
¢ White space: space, tab, and newline characters are
used to separate identifiers and can be used freely in
the Verilog code 15
VERILOG SYNTAX
¢ Comments: two forms; one-line comment starts
with // and multiple-line comment is
encapsulated between /* and */
// T his is a comment
/* This i s comment line 1 .
This i s comment line 2 .
This i s comment line 3 . * /

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VERILOG DATA TYPES
¢ Four-valued system:
— 0: for "logic Low, or a false condition
— 1: for "logic High", or a true condition
— z: for the high-impedance state
— x: for an unknown value (in simulations)

¢ Two groups of Data Types: net and variable.

¢ Net group:
— Wire: could be 1-bit or array (e.g. wire a; wire
[3:0] sum;)
— Wand: wired-and
— supply0
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VERILOG DATA TYPES
¢ Variable group: represent abstract storage in
behavioral modeling (The inferred circuit may or
may not contain physical storage components)
— reg: The most commonly used data type in this group
— Integer: explained in next slide

¢ real, time, and realtime: can only be used in

modeling and simulation

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INTEGER NUMBERS IN VERILOG
¢ Constant numbers can be specified in decimal,
hexadecimal, octal, or binary format
¢ Integer numbers can be specified as:
— Syntax: <size>'<radix><value> (size is in number of bits)
— Sized or unsized numbers ( Unsized numbers are 32 bits )
— In a radix of binary, octal, decimal, or hexadecimal
— Radix and hex digits (a,b,c,d,e,f) are case insensitive
— Spaces are allowed between the size, radix and value
— The character (_) is legal anywhere in a number except as
the first character à so use it for better clarity.
— Examples: 12’b1011_1100_0010, ‘hA8, 8’d 15)
— When <size> is smaller than <value>, then left-most bits
of <value> are truncated 19
 MODULE INSTANTIATION
¢ Two ways to connect the ports of the instantiated
module to the signals in the instantiating
module:
— 1. By name:
[module-name] [instance-name]
(
. [port-name] ( [signal-name] ) ,
.[port-name] ([signal-name]),
);
— 2. By order:
eq1 bit0 (a[0] , b [0] , e0 ) ;
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eq1 bitl (a[1] , b [1] , e1 ) ;
MODULE INSTANTIATION

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 MODULE INSTANTIATION

module Add_rca_16 (output c_out, output [15:0] sum, input [15:0] a, b, input c_in);
wire c_in4, cin8, c_in12;
Add_rca_4 M1 (c_in4, sum[3:0], a[3:0], b[3:0], c_in);
Add_rca_4 M2 (c_in8, sum[7:4], a[7:4], b[7:4], c_in4);
Add_rca_4 M3 (c_in12, sum[11:8], a[11:8], b[11:8], c_in8);
Add_rca_4 M4 (c_out, sum[15:12], a[15:12], b[15:12], c_in12);
endmodule 22
 MODULE INSTANTIATION

module Add_rca_4 (output c_out, output [3:0] sum, input [3:0] a, b, input c_in);
wire c_in2, cin3, c_in3;
Add_full M1 (c_in2, sum[0], a[0], b[0], c_in);
Add_full M2 (c_in3, sum[1], a[1], b[1], c_in2);
Add_full M3 (c_in4, sum[2], a[2], b[2], c_in3);
Add_full M4 (c_out, sum[3], a[3], b[3], c_in4);
endmodule
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 MODULE INSTANTIATION

module Add_full (output c_out, sum, input a, b, c_in);

wire w1, w2, w3;
Add_half M1 (w2, w1, a, b);
Add_half M2 (w3, sum, c_in, w1);
or M3 (c_out, w2, w3);
endmodule

module Add_half (output c_out, sum, input a, b);

xor M1 (sum, a, b);
and M2 (c_out, a, b);
endmodule 24
MODULE INSTANTIATION

module Comp_2_str (output A_gt,_B, A_lt_B, A_eq_B, input A0, A1, B0, B1);
nor (A_gt_B, A_lt_B, A_eq_B);
or (A_lt_B, w1, w2, w3);
and (A_eq_B, w4, w5);
and (w1, w6, B1);
and (w2, w6, w7, B0);
and (w3, w7, B0, B1);
not (w6, A1);
not (w7, A0);
xnor (w4, A1, B1); 25
xnor (w5, A0, B0);
endmodule
MODULE INSTANTIATION

module Comp_4_str (output A_gt,_B, A_lt_B, A_eq_B,

input A3, A2, A1, A0, B3, B2, B1, B0);
wire w1, w0;
Comp_2_str M1 (A_gt,_B_M1, A_lt_B_M1, A_eq_B_M1, A3, A2, B3, B2);
Comp_2_str M0 (A_gt,_B_M0, A_lt_B_M0, A_eq_B_M0, A1, A0, B1, B0);
or (A_gt_B, A_gt_B_M1, w1);
and (w1, A_eq_B_M1, A_gt_B_M0);
and (A_eq_B, A_eq_B_M1, A_eq_B_M0);
or (A_lt_B, A_lt_B_M1, w0);
and (w0, A_eq_B_M1, A_lt_B_M0); 26
endmodule
TEST METHODOLOGY
¢ Modeling begins with a complex functional unit
and partitions it in a top-down fashion to enable
design of simpler units.
¢ Systematic verification begins with simpler units
and moving to more complex units in design
hierarchy.
¢ To verify functionality of a digital circuit build a
test bench that applies stimulus patterns to the
circuit and collect responses.
¢ Responses can be displayed or compared to a
correct response.
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¢ Test bench is a separate Verilog module.
ORGANIZATION OF A TESTBENCH FOR
VERIFYING A UNIT UNDER TEST (UUT)

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 TESTBENCH EXAMPLE
module t_Add_half();
wire sum, c_out;
reg a, b;
Add_half M1 (c_out, sum, a, b);
initial begin
#100 $finish;
end
initial begin
#10 a=0; b=0;
#10 b=1;
#10 a=1;
#10 b=0;
end
endmodule

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TESTBENCH EXAMPLE
¢ The keyword initial declares a single-pass behavior
that begins executing when the simulator is
activated.
¢ Statements within begin and end block keywords are
called procedural statements.
¢ Procedural statements execute sequentially
¢ # is a delay control operator
¢ A delay control operator preceding procedural
assignment statement suspends its execution and the
execution of subsequent statements for specified delay
time
¢ reg declaration ensures that variables will keep their
value until the next procedural assignment statement
¢ $finish ends simulation
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 TESTBENCH TEMPLATE
module t_DUTB_name(); // substitute the name of the UUT
reg ----; // declaration of register variables for
// primary inputs of the UUT
wire ----; // declaration of primary outputs of UUT
parameter time_out= // provide a value
UUT_name M1 (UUT ports go here);
initial $monitor() // specification of signals to be
// monitored and displayed as text
initial time_out $finish // stopwatch to ensure termination
// of simulation
initial begin
// behavioral statements generating
// wavefroms to input ports
end
endmodule
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PROPAGATION DELAY
module Add_full_unit_delay(output c_out, sum, input a, b, c_in);
wire w1, w2, w3;
Add_half_unit_delay M1 (w2, w1, a, b);
Add_half_unit_delay M2 (w3, sum, w1, c_in);
or #1 M3 (c_out, w2, w3);
endmodule

module Add_half_unit_delay (output c_out, sum, input a, b);

xor #1 M1 (sum, a, b);
and #1 M2 (c_out, a, b);
endmodule

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PROPAGATION DELAY
¢ To set a certain unit for time units, use the
directive ‘timescale
¢ ‘timescale 1ns / 1ps directs the simulator to
interpret numerical time variables as having
units of nanoseconds with a resolution of
picoseconds

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INERTIAL DELAY
¢ Propagation delay in Verilog obeys inertial delay
model.
¢ Verilog uses the propagation delay of a gate as
minimum width of an input pulse that could
affect output.

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TRANSPORT DELAY
¢ Propagation delay across a wire is modeled as
transport delay i.e. narrow pulses are not
suppressed
¢ Example

— wire #2 A_long_wire declares that A_long_wire has a

transport delay of two time steos.

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TRUTH TABLE MODELS OF COMBINATIONAL
AND SEQUENTIAL LOGIC WITH VERILOG

¢ Verilog supports truth-table models of

combinational and sequential logic.
¢ A mechanism for building user-defined primitives
(UDPS).
¢ UDPs are delcared in same way as modules with
encapsulation of keywords primitive
…endprimitive
¢ The output and inputs of a UDP must be scalar

¢ They can be instantiated just like built-in

primitives with or without propagation delay.
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TRUTH TABLE MODELS OF COMBINATIONAL
AND SEQUENTIAL LOGIC WITH VERILOG

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TRUTH TABLE MODELS OF COMBINATIONAL
AND SEQUENTIAL LOGIC WITH VERILOG

¢ The ? Shorthand notation represents iteration of

the table over the values 0, 1, and x in the table
i.e., don’t care on the input
table
//Select a b : mux_out
0 0 ? : 0;
0 1 ? : 1;
1 ? 0 : 0;
1 ? 1 : 1;
? 0 0 : 0;
? 1 1 : 1;
endtable

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TRUTH-TABLE MODEL OF A TRANSPARENT
LATCH
¢ The output of a sequential UDP must be declared
to have type reg
primitive latch_rp (output reg q_out, input enable,
data)
// enable data state
q_out/next_state
1 1 : ? : 1;
1 0 : ? : 0;
0 ? : ? : -;
x 0 : 0 : -;
x 1 : 1 : -; 39
TRUTH-TABLE MODEL OF A D-TYPE FLIP-
FLOP

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