IEC 61523-3:2004

Delay and power calculation standards - Part 3: Standard Delay Format (SDF) for the electronic design process

The Standard Delay Format (SDF)is an existing OVI standard for the representation and interpretation of timing data for use at any stage of the electronic design process.The ASCII data in the SDF le is represented in a tool and language independent way and includes path delays,timing constraint values,inter-connect delays and high level technology parameters. This standard is published with a double logo IEC-IEEE. standard.

General Information

• Status: Published
• Publication Date: 23-Sep-2004
• ICS: 01 - GENERALITIES. TERMINOLOGY. STANDARDIZATION. DOCUMENTATION
• ICS: 35.240.50 - IT applications in industry
• Technical Committee: TC 91 - Electronics assembly technology
• Drafting Committee: WG 13 - TC 91/WG 13
• Current Stage: PPUB - Publication issued
• Start Date: 15-Feb-2005
• Completion Date: 24-Sep-2004

Standards Content (Sample)

INTERNATIONAL IEC
STANDARD 61523-3
First edition
2004-09
™
IEEE 1497
Delay and power calculation standards –
Part 3:
Standard Delay Format (SDF) for the
electronic design process
Reference number
IEC 61523-3(E):2004
IEEE Std. 1497(E):2001
Publication numbering
As from 1 January 1997 all IEC publications are issued with a designation in the
60000 series. For example, IEC 34-1 is now referred to as IEC 60034-1.
Consolidated editions
The IEC is now publishing consolidated versions of its publications. For example,
edition numbers 1.0, 1.1 and 1.2 refer, respectively, to the base publication, the
base publication incorporating amendment 1 and the base publication incorporating
amendments 1 and 2.
Further information on IEC publications
The technical content of IEC publications is kept under constant review by the IEC,
thus ensuring that the content reflects current technology. Information relating to
this publication, including its validity, is available in the IEC Catalogue of
publications (see below) in addition to new editions, amendments and corrigenda.
Information on the subjects under consideration and work in progress undertaken
by the technical committee which has prepared this publication, as well as the list
of publications issued, is also available from the following:
• IEC Web Site (www.iec.ch)
• Catalogue of IEC publications
) enables you to
The on-line catalogue on the IEC web site (www.iec.ch/searchpub
search by a variety of criteria including text searches, technical committees
and date of publication. On-line information is also available on recently issued
publications, withdrawn and replaced publications, as well as corrigenda.
• IEC Just Published
This summary of recently issued publications (www.iec.ch/online_news/ justpub)
is also available by email. Please contact the Customer Service Centre (see
below) for further information.
• Customer Service Centre
If you have any questions regarding this publication or need further assistance,
please contact the Customer Service Centre:

Email: [e-mail]
Tel: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
INTERNATIONAL IEC
STANDARD 61523-3
First edition
2004-09
™
IEEE 1497
Delay and power calculation standards –
Part 3:
Standard Delay Format (SDF) for the
electronic design process
© IEEE 2004 ⎯ Copyright - all rights reserved
IEEE is a registered trademark in the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office, owned by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc.
No part of this publication may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or
mechanical, including photocopying and microfilm, without permission in writing from the publisher.
International Electrotechnical Commission, 3, rue de Varembé, PO Box 131, CH-1211 Geneva 20, Switzerland
Telephone: [phone] Telefax: [phone] E-mail: [e-mail] Web: www.iec.ch
The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc, 3 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10016-5997, USA
Telephone: [phone] Telefax: [phone] E-mail: [e-mail] Web: www.standards.ieee.org
Commission Electrotechnique Internationale
International Electrotechnical Commission
Международная Электротехническая Комиссия

– 2 –
IEEE 1497-2001(E)
CONTENTS
FOREWORD. 3
IEEE Introduction. 7
1. Overview. 8
1.1 Scope. 8
1.2 Organization of this standard . 8
2. References. 9
3. Conventions. 9
3.1 Terminology conventions. 9
3.2 Syntactic conventions. 9
4. SDF in the design process. 12
4.1 Sharing of timing data. 12
4.2 Using multiple SDF files in one design. 12
4.3 Timing data and constraints . 13
4.4 Timing environments. 13
4.5 Back-annotation of timing data for design analysis . 13
4.6 Forward-annotation of timing constraints for design synthesis. 15
4.7 Timing models supported by SDF. 16
5. Defining the standard delay format. 18
5.1 SDF file content . 18
5.2 Header section. 20
5.3 Cells . 25
5.4 Delays. 28
5.5 Timing checks. 46
5.6 Labels. 60
5.7 Timing environment. 62
Annex A (normative) Syntax of SDF . 74
Annex B (informative) SDF file examples . 84
Annex C (informative) List of Participants. 89
Published by IEC under licence from IEEE. © 2004 IEEE. All rights reserved.

– 3 –
IEEE 1497-2001(E)
INTERNATIONAL ELECTROTECHNICAL COMMISSION
___________
DELAY AND POWER CALCULATION STANDARDS –

Part 3: Standard Delay Format (SDF)
for the electronic design process

FOREWORD
1) The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) is a worldwide organization for standardization
comprising all national electrotechnical committees (IEC National Committees). The object of IEC is to
promote international co-operation on all questions concerning standardization in the electrical and
electronic fields. To this end and in addition to other activities, IEC publishes International Standards,
Technical Specifications, Technical Reports, Publicly Available Specifications (PAS) and Guides (hereafter
referred to as “IEC Publication(s)”). Their preparation is entrusted to technical committees; any IEC National
Committee interested in the subject dealt with may participate in this preparatory work. International,
governmental and non-governmental organizations liaising with the IEC also participate in this preparation.
IEC collaborates closely with the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) in accordance with
conditions determined by agreement between the two organizations.
2) The formal decisions or agreements of IEC on technical matters express, as nearly as possible, an
international consensus of opinion on the relevant subjects since each technical committee has
representation from all interested IEC National Committees.
3) IEC Publications have the form of recommendations for international use and are accepted by IEC National
Committees in that sense. While all reasonable efforts are made to ensure that the technical content of IEC
Publications is accurate, IEC cannot be held responsible for the way in which they are used or for any
misinterpretation by any end user.
4) In order to promote international uniformity, IEC National Committees undertake to apply IEC Publications
transparently to the maximum extent possible in their national and regional publications. Any divergence
between any IEC Publication and the corresponding national or regional publication shall be clearly
indicated in the latter.
5) IEC provides no marking procedure to indicate its approval and cannot be rendered responsible for any
equipment declared to be in conformity with an IEC Publication.
6) Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this IEC Publication may be the subject of
patent rights. IEC shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.
International Standard IEC/IEEE 61523-3 has been processed through IEC technical
committee 93: Design automation.
The text of this standard is based on the following documents:
IEEE Std FDIS Report on voting
1497 (2001) 93/191/FDIS 93/196/RVD
Full information on the voting for the approval of this standard can be found in the report on
voting indicated in the above table.
This publication has been drafted in accordance with the ISO/IEC Directives.
The committee has decided that the contents of this publication will remain unchanged until
2006.
IEC 61523 consists of the following parts, under the general title Delay and power
calculation standards:
IEC 61523-1, Part 1: Integrated circuit delay and power calculation systems
Published by IEC under licence from IEEE. © 2004 IEEE. All rights reserved.

– 4 –
IEEE 1497-2001(E)
IEC 61523-2, Part 2: Pre-layout delay calculation specification of CMOS ASIC libraries
IEC/IEEE 61523-3, Part 3: Standard Delay Format (SDF) for the electronic process
Published by IEC under licence from IEEE. © 2004 IEEE. All rights reserved.

– 5 –
IEEE 1497-2001(E)
IEC/IEEE Dual Logo International Standards
This Dual Logo International Standard is the result of an agreement between the IEC and the Institute of
Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE). The original IEEE Standard was submitted to the IEC for
consideration under the agreement, and the resulting IEC/IEEE Dual Logo International Standard has been
published in accordance with the ISO/IEC Directives.
IEEE Standards documents are developed within the IEEE Societies and the Standards Coordinating
Committees of the IEEE Standards Association (IEEE-SA) Standards Board. The IEEE develops its standards
through a consensus development process, approved by the American National Standards Institute, which
brings together volunteers representing varied viewpoints and interests to achieve the final product. Volunteers
are not necessarily members of the Institute and serve without compensation. While the IEEE administers the
process and establishes rules to promote fairness in the consensus development process, the IEEE does not
independently evaluate, test, or verify the accuracy of any of the information contained in its standards.
Use of an IEC/IEEE Dual Logo International Standard is wholly voluntary. The IEC and IEEE disclaim liability for
any personal injury, property or other damage, of any nature whatsoever, whether special, indirect,
consequential, or compensatory, directly or indirectly resulting from the publication, use of, or reliance upon
this, or any other IEC or IEEE Standard document.
The IEC and IEEE do not warrant or represent the accuracy or content of the material contained herein, and
expressly disclaim any express or implied warranty, including any implied warranty of merchantability or fitness
for a specific purpose, or that the use of the material contained herein is free from patent infringement.
IEC/IEEE Dual Logo International Standards documents are supplied “AS IS”.
The existence of an IEC/IEEE Dual Logo International Standard does not imply that there are no other ways to
produce, test, measure, purchase, market, or provide other goods and services related to the scope of the
IEC/IEEE Dual Logo International Standard. Furthermore, the viewpoint expressed at the time a standard is
approved and issued is subject to change brought about through developments in the state of the art and
comments received from users of the standard.
Every IEEE Standard is subjected to review at least every five years for revision or reaffirmation. When a
document is more than five years old and has not been reaffirmed, it is reasonable to conclude that its contents,
although still of some value, do not wholly reflect the present state of the art. Users are cautioned to check to
determine that they have the latest edition of any IEEE Standard.
In publishing and making this document available, the IEC and IEEE are not suggesting or rendering
professional or other services for, or on behalf of, any person or entity. Neither the IEC nor IEEE is undertaking
to perform any duty owed by any other person or entity to another. Any person utilizing this, and any other
IEC/IEEE Dual Logo International Standards or IEEE Standards document, should rely upon the advice of a
competent professional in determining the exercise of reasonable care in any given circumstances.
Interpretations – Occasionally questions may
...