CY7C401/CY7C403
CY7C402/CY7C404
4
Operational Description
Concept
Unlike traditional FIFOs, these devices are designed using a
dual-port memory, read and write pointer, and control logic.
The r ead and writ e point ers a re in cremented b y the SO an d SI
respectiv ely. The avail ability of an empty space to shift in dat a
is i ndicated by the IR signal, whil e the prese nce of data at the
outpu t is indicated by t he OR signal. The conventi onal concept
of bubble-through is absent. Instead, the delay for input data
to appear at the output is the time requir ed to move a pointer
and propagate an OR signal. The output enable (OE ) sig nal
provides the c apability to OR tie multiple FIFOs together on
a com mo n bus.
Resetting the FIFO
Upon power-up, the FIFO must be reset with a master reset
(MR) si gnal. This causes the FIFO to enter an empty condi tion
signified by the OR signal be ing LOW at t he same time the IR
sign al i s HIGH. In this condition, the da ta out puts (DO0 – DO n)
will be in a LOW state.
Shift ing Data In
Data i s shi fted in on the risi ng ed ge of t he SI sig nal. This l oads
input data into the fi rs t word locat io n o f th e FIFO . On th e f allin g
edge of the SI signal, the write pointer is moved to the next
word position and the IR signal goes HIGH, indicating the
readiness to accept new data. If the FIFO is full, the IR will
remain LOW unti l a word of data is shifted out.
Shift ing Data Out
Data is shifted out of the FIFO on the falling edge of the SO
sign al. This causes the i nternal rea d p ointer to be advanced to
the n e xt wor d loca ti on. I f data is pre sent, v alid data wi ll ap pear
on the outputs and the OR signal will go HIGH. If data is not
present, the OR signal will stay LOW indicating the FIFO is
empty. Upon the rising edge of SO, the OR si gnal goes LOW.
The data outputs of the FIFO should be sampled with
edge-sensitive type D flip-flops (or equivalent), using the SO
signal as the clock input t o the flip-fl op.
Bubble-Through
Two bubble- through conditions exist. The first is when the de-
vice is empty. After a word is shifted into an empty devi ce, the
data propagat es to the out put. After a delay, the OR flag goes
HIGH, indicating valid data at the output.
The second bubble-through condition occ urs when the device
is full. Shif ting data out creates an empty location t hat propa-
gates to the input. After a delay, the IR flag goes HIGH. If the
SI signal is HIGH at this time, data on the input will be shifted
in.
Possible Minimum Pulse Width Violation at t he Boundary
Conditions
If t he handshak in g signal s IR and O R are not pr operly us ed to
generate the SI and SO signals, it is possible to violate the
mini mum (ef fe ctiv e) SI and SO positiv e pul se widt hs at the full
and empty boundaries.
When this vi olation occurs, the operati on o f the FIFO is unpre-
dictabl e. It must then be re set, and all data i s lost.
Applicat ion of the 7C403–25/7C404–25 at 25 MHz
Application of the CY7C403 or CY7C404 Cypress CMOS
FIFOs requires knowledge of characteristics that are not easily
specified in a datasheet, but which are necessary for reliable
operation under all conditions, so we will specify them her e.
When an empty FIFO is filled with initial information at m axi-
mum “sh ift in” SI frequ ency, fol lo wed b y immed iate sh ifti ng out
of the data also at maximum “s hift out” SO frequency, the de-
signer must be aware of a window of time which follows the
initial rising edge of the OR signal, during which time the SO
signal is not recognized. This condition exists only at
high-speed operation where m ore than one SO may be gen-
erated inside the prohibited window. This condition does not
inhibit the operation of the FIFO at full-frequency operation, but
rather delays the full 25-MHz operation until after the window
has passed.
There are several implementation techniques for managing
the windo w so that all SO signals are re cognized:
1. The fir st i nvolves del aying SO operati on such that it does
not occur in the critical window. This can be accomplished
by causing a f ixed delay of 40 ns “initi ated by t he SI signal
only when the FI FO is empty” to inhibit or gate the SO ac-
tivi ty. However, this r equires tha t th e SO operation be at
least tempor arily synchronized with the in put SI oper ation.
In synchronous applicati ons this m ay w ell be pos sible a nd
a valid solution.
2. Another solution not uncommon in synchronous applica-
tions is to only beg in shifting dat a out of the FIFO when it is
more than half full. This is a com mo n method of FIFO ap-
plic ation, as earlier FIFOs could not be operated at maxi-
mum f requenc y when near f ull or em pty. Alth ough Cypr ess
FIFOs do not have this lim itation, any system designed in
this manner will not encounter the window condi tion de-
scribed above.
3. The windo w ma y also be managed b y not allo win g the firs t
SO signal to occur until the window in question has passed.
This can be accomplished by delaying the SO 40 ns from
the rising edge of the initi al OR signal. This however in-
volves t he requir em ent t hat this only occurs o n the first oc-
curren ce of data being loaded i nto the FIFO from an empty
condition and therefore requires t he knowledge of IR and
SI conditions as well as SO.
4. Handshaki ng with the OR signal is a thir d method of a v oid -
ing the window in question. Wit h this technique the rising
edge of SO, or the fact that SO signal i s HIGH, will cause
the OR signal to go LO W. The SO signal is not tak en LO W
again, advancing the internal pointer to t he next data, until
the OR signal goes LOW. Thi s ensures that the SO pulse
that is initiated in the window will be automatically extended
long enough to be r ecognized.
5. There remains the decision as to what signal wi ll be used
to l atch t he data f rom the out put o f the FI FO int o the rece iv-
ing sourc e. The leadi ng edge of t he SO signal is most ap-
propria te because data is guaranteed to be stable prior to
and after the SO leading edge for each FIFO. This is a
solution for any number of FIFOs in parallel.
Any of the above solutions will ensure the correct oper ation of
a Cypress FI FO at 25 MH z. The s pecif ic impl ement ati on is l eft
to the designer and is dependent on the specific application
needs.