priority of setup/hold
period | setup/hold | applied to | add | ||
4 | create_clock | √ | √ | node | second assignment will be ignored |
CREATE_GENERATED_CLOCK | √ | √ | node | ignore the new constraint and issue a warning | |
DERIVE_PLL_CLOCKS | √ | √ | node | ||
SET_INPUT_DELAY/ SET_OUTPUT_DELAY |
√ | node(external) | there is another external register connected to the port override the first two lines and a warning would be issued | ||
3 | SET_MULTICYCLE_PATH | √ | between keepers/clocks | ||
2 | SET_MAX_DELAY/SET_MIN_DELAY | √ | between keepers/clocks | ||
1 | SET_CLOCK_GROUPS | √ | clock | ||
SET_FALSE_PATH | √ | between keepers/clocks |
the priority of Set_input_delay and set_output_delay
according to the previous priority of period, the create_clock, create_generated_clock will ignore the second one
set_input_delay and set_output_delay describe a circuit outside of the FPGA.
set_input_delay and set_output_delay assignments will overwrite any previous input or output constraints. and a warning would be issued.
-add_delay option means there is another external register connected to the port.
Priority between Equal Constraints by different levels
This is when a path has two different multicycles assignments applied to it, or two different set_max_delay assignments.
These could be from two different .sdc files, or two different levels of assignments.
By levels,one directly on the path and one between the clocks.
The priority is quite simple, it is whatever constraint is read in last.
One final note is the special case when set_max_delay and set_min_delay are applied to an I/O port that has no set_input_delay or set_output_delay assignment. As discussed, this special case will implicitly add a set_input_delay or set_output_delay constraint to the I/O with 0ns external delay and a clock called “n/a” behind the scenes. This only occurs if the user does not have a set_input_delay or set_output_delay constraint anywhere in their .sdc files. If they do, those constraints take priority over these implicit constraints.