[libreriscv.git] / docs / pinmux.mdwn

# Pinmux, IO Pads, and JTAG Boundary scan

Links:

* <http://www2.eng.cam.ac.uk/~dmh/4b7/resource/section14.htm>
* <https://www10.edacafe.com/book/ASIC/CH02/CH02.7.php>
* <https://ftp.libre-soc.org/Pin_Control_Subsystem_Overview.pdf>
* <https://bugs.libre-soc.org/show_bug.cgi?id=50>
* <https://bugs.libre-soc.org/show_bug.cgi?id=750>
* <https://bugs.libre-soc.org/show_bug.cgi?id=762>
* <https://git.libre-soc.org/?p=c4m-jtag.git;a=tree;hb=HEAD>
* Extra info: [[/docs/pinmux/temp_pinmux_info]]

Managing IO on an ASIC is nowhere near as simple as on an FPGA.
An FPGA has built-in IO Pads, the wires terminate inside an
existing silicon block which has been tested for you.
In an ASIC, you are going to have to do everything yourself.
In an ASIC, a bi-directional IO Pad requires three wires (in, out,
out-enable) to be routed right the way from the ASIC, all
the way to the IO PAD, where only then does a wire bond connect
it to a single external pin.

Below, therefore is a (simplified) diagram of what is
usually contained in an FPGA's bi-directional IO Pad,
and consequently this is what you must also provide, and explicitly
wire up in your ASIC's HDL.

[[!img asic_iopad_gen.svg]]

Designing an ASIC, there is no guarantee that the IO pad is
working when manufactured. Worse, the peripheral could be
faulty.  How can you tell what the cause is? There are two
possible faults, but only one symptom ("it dunt wurk").
This problem is what JTAG Boundary Scan is designed to solve.
JTAG can be operated from an external digital clock,
at very low frequencies (5 khz is perfectly acceptable)
so there is very little risk of clock skew during that testing.

Additionally, an SoC is designed to be low cost, to use low cost
packaging. ASICs are typically only 32 to 128 pins QFP
in the Embedded
Controller range, and between 300 to 650 FBGA in the Tablet /
Smartphone range, absolute maximum of 19 mm on a side.
2 to 3 in square 1,000 pin packages common to Intel desktop processors are
absolutely out of the question.

(*With each pin wire bond smashing
into the ASIC using purely heat of impact to melt the wire,
cracks in the die can occur. The more times
the bonding equipment smashes into the die, the higher the
chances of irreversible damage, hence why larger pin packaged
ASICs are much more expensive: not because of their manufacturing
cost but because far more of them fail due to having been
literally hit with a hammer many more times*)

Yet, the expectation from the market is to be able to fit 1,000+
pins worth of peripherals into only 200 to 400 worth of actual
IO Pads. The solution here: a GPIO Pinmux, described in some
detail here <https://ftp.libre-soc.org/Pin_Control_Subsystem_Overview.pdf>

This page goes over the details and issues involved in creating
an ASIC that combines **both** JTAG Boundary Scan **and** GPIO
Muxing, down to layout considerations using coriolis2.

# Resources, Platforms and Pins

When creating nmigen HDL as Modules, they typically know nothing about FPGA
Boards or ASICs.  They especially do not know anything about the
Peripheral ICs (UART, I2C, USB, SPI, PCIe) connected to a given FPGA
on a given PCB, and they should not have to.

Through the Resources, Platforms and Pins API, a level of abstraction
between peripherals, boards and HDL designs is provided.  Peripherals
may be given `(name, number)` tuples, the HDL design may "request"
a peripheral, which is described in terms of Resources, managed
by a ResourceManager, and a Platform may provide that peripheral.
The Platform is given
the resposibility to wire up the Pins to the correct FPGA (or ASIC)
IO Pads, and it is the HDL design's responsibility to connect up
those same named Pins, on the other side, to the implementation
of the PHY/Controller, in the HDL.

Here is a function that defines a UART Resource:

    #!/usr/bin/env python3
    from nmigen.build.dsl import Resource, Subsignal, Pins

    def UARTResource(*args, rx, tx):
      io = []
      io.append(Subsignal("rx", Pins(rx, dir="i", assert_width=1)))
      io.append(Subsignal("tx", Pins(tx, dir="o", assert_width=1)))
      return Resource.family(*args, default_name="uart", ios=io)

Note that the Subsignal is given a convenient name (tx, rx) and that
there are Pins associated with it.
UARTResource  would typically be part of a larger function that defines,
for either an FPGA or an ASIC, a full array of IO Connections:

    def create_resources(pinset):
       resources = []
       resources.append(UARTResource('uart', 0, tx='A20', rx='A21'))
       # add clock and reset
       clk = Resource("clk", 0, Pins("sys_clk", dir="i"))
       rst = Resource("rst", 0, Pins("sys_rst", dir="i"))
       resources.append(clk)
       resources.append(rst)
       return resources

For an FPGA, the Pins names are typically the Ball Grid Array
Pad or Pin name: A12, or N20.  ASICs can do likewise: it is
for convenience when referring to schematics, to use the most
recogniseable well-known name.

Next, these Resources need to be handed to a ResourceManager or
a Platform (Platform derives from ResourceManager)

    from nmigen.build.plat import TemplatedPlatform
 
    class ASICPlatform(TemplatedPlatform):
      def __init__(self, resources):
          super().__init__()
          self.add_resources(resources)

An HDL Module may now be created, which, if given
a platform instance during elaboration, may request
a UART (caveat below):

    from nmigen import Elaboratable, Module, Signal

    class Blinker(Elaboratable): 
      def elaborate(self, platform):
          m = Module()
          # get the UART resource, mess with the output tx
          uart = platform.request('uart')
          intermediary = Signal()
          m.d.comb += uart.tx.eq(~intermediary) # invert, for fun
          m.d.comb += intermediary.eq(uart.rx) # pass rx to tx
 
          return m

The caveat here is that the Resources of the platform actually
have to have a UART in order for it to be requestable! Thus:

    resources = create_resources() # contains resource named "uart"
    asic = ASICPlatform(resources)
    hdl = Blinker()
    asic.build(hdl)

Finally the association between HDL, Resources, and ASIC Platform
is made:

* The Resources contain the abstract expression of the
type of peripheral, its port names, and the corresponding
names of the IO Pads associated with each port.
* The HDL which knows nothing about IO Pad names requests
  a Resource by name
* The ASIC Platform, given the list of Resources, takes care
  of connecting requests for Resources to actual IO Pads.

This is the simple version.  When JTAG Boundary Scan needs
to be added, it gets a lot more complex.

# JTAG Boundary Scan

JTAG Scanning is a (paywalled) IEEE Standard: 1149.1 which with
a little searching can be found online.  Its purpose is to allow
a well-defined method of testing ASIC IO pads that a Foundry or
ASIC test house may apply easily with off-the-shelf equipment.
Scan chaining can also connect multiple ASICs together so that
the same test can be run on a large batch of ASICs at the same
time.

IO Pads generally come in four primary different types:

* Input
* Output
* Output with Tristate (enable)
* Bi-directional Tristate Input/Output with direction enable

Interestingly these can all be synthesised from one
Bi-directional Tristate IO Pad.  Other types such as Differential
Pair Transmit may also be constructed from an inverter and a pair
of IO Pads.  Other more advanced features include pull-up
and pull-down resistors, Schmidt triggering for interrupts,
different drive strengths, and so on, but the basics are
that the Pad is either an input, or an output, or both.

The JTAG Boundary Scan therefore needs to know what type
each pad is (In/Out/Bi) and has to "insert" itself in between
*all* the Pad's wires, which may be just an input, or just an output,
and, if bi-directional, an "output enable" line.

The "insertion" (or, "Tap") into those wires requires a
pair of Muxes for each wire.  Under normal operation
the Muxes bypass JTAG entirely: the IO Pad is connected,
through the two Muxes,
directly to the Core (a hardware term for a "peripheral",
in Software terminology).

When JTAG Scan is enabled, then for every pin that is
"tapped into", the Muxes flip such that:

* The IO Pad is connected directly to latches controlled
  by the JTAG Shift Register
* The Core (peripheral) likewise but to *different bits*
  from those that the Pad is connected to

In this way, not only can JTAG control or read the IO Pad,
but it can also read or control the Core (peripheral).
This is its entire purpose: interception to allow for the detection
and triaging of faults.

* Software may be uploaded and run which sets a bit on
  one of the peripheral outputs (UART Tx for example).
  If the UART TX IO Pad was faulty, no possibility existd
  without Boundary Scan to determine if the peripheral
  was at fault.  With the UART TX pin function being
  redirected to a JTAG Shift Register, the results of the
  software setting UART Tx may be detected by checking
  the appropriate Shift Register bit.
* Likewise, a voltage may be applied to the UART RX Pad,
  and the corresponding SR bit checked to see if the
  pad is working.  If the UART Rx peripheral was faulty
  this would not be possible.

[[!img jtag-block.svg ]]

## C4M JTAG TAP

Staf Verhaegen's Chips4Makers JTAG TAP module includes everything
needed to create JTAG Boundary Scan Shift Registers,
as well as the IEEE 1149.1 Finite State Machine to access
them through TMS, TDO, TDI and TCK Signalling.  However,
connecting up cores (a hardware term: the equivalent software
term is "peripherals") on one side and the pads on the other is
especially confusing, but deceptively simple.  The actual addition
to the Scan Shift Register is this straightforward:

    from c4m.nmigen.jtag.tap import IOType, TAP

    class JTAG(TAP):
       def __init__(self):
           TAP.__init__(self, ir_width=4)
           self.u_tx = self.add_io(iotype=IOType.Out, name="tx")
           self.u_rx = self.add_io(iotype=IOType.In, name="rx")

This results in the creation of:

* Two Records, one of type In named rx, the other an output
  named tx
* Each Record contains a pair of sub-Records: one core-side
  and the other pad-side
* Entries in the Boundary Scan Shift Register which if set
  may control (or read) either the peripheral / core or
  the IO PAD
* A suite of Muxes (as shown in the diagrams above) which
  allow either direct connection between pad and core
  (bypassing JTAG) or interception

During Interception Mode (Scanning) pad and core are connected
to the Shift Register.  During "Production" Mode, pad and
core are wired directly to each other (on a per-pin basis,
for every pin. Clearly this is a lot of work).

It is then your responsibility to:

* connect up each and every peripheral input and output
  to the right IO Core Record in your HDL
* connect up each and every IO Pad input and output
  to the right IO Pad in the Platform.
* **This does not happen automatically and is not the
  responsibility of the TAP Interface, it is yours**

The TAP interface connects the **other** side of the pads
and cores Records: **to the Muxes**.  You **have** to
connect **your** side of both core and pads Records in
order for the Scan to be fully functional.

Both of these tasks are painstaking and tedious in the
extreme if done manually, and prone to either sheer boredom,
transliteration errors, dyslexia triggering or just utter
confusion.  Despite this, let us proceed, and, augmenting
the Blinky example, wire up a JTAG instance:

    class Blinker(Elaboratable): 
      def elaborate(self, platform):
          m = Module()
          m.submodules.jtag = jtag = JTAG()

          # get the records from JTAG instance
          utx, urx = jtag.u_tx, jtag.u_rx
          # get the UART resource, mess with the output tx
          p_uart = platform.request('uart')

          # uart core-side from JTAG
          intermediary = Signal()
          m.d.comb += utx.core.o.eq(~intermediary) # invert, for fun
          m.d.comb += intermediary.eq(urx.core.i) # pass rx to tx

          # wire up the IO Pads (in right direction) to Platform
          m.d.comb += uart.rx.eq(utx.pad.i) # receive rx from JTAG input pad
          m.d.comb += utx.pad.o.eq(uart.tx) # transmit tx to JTAG output pad
          return m

Compared to the non-scan-capable version, which connected UART
Core Tx and Rx directly to the Platform Resource (and the Platform
took care of wiring to IO Pads):

* Core HDL is instead wired to the core-side of JTAG Scan
* JTAG Pad side is instead wired to the Platform
* (the Platform still takes care of wiring to actual IO Pads)

JTAG TAP capability on UART TX and RX has now been inserted into
the chain.  Using openocd or other program it is possible to
send TDI, TMS, TDO and TCK signals according to IEEE 1149.1 in order
to intercept both the core and IO Pads, both input and output,
and confirm the correct functionality of one even if the other is
broken, during ASIC testing.

## Libre-SOC Automatic Boundary Scan

Libre-SOC's JTAG TAP Boundary Scan system is a little more sophisticated:
it hooks into (replaces) ResourceManager.request(), intercepting the request
and recording what was requested.  The above manual linkup to JTAG TAP
is then taken care of **automatically and transparently**, but to
all intents and purposes looking exactly like a Platform even to
the extent of taking the exact same list of Resources.

    class Blinker(Elaboratable):
      def __init__(self, resources):
          self.jtag = JTAG(resources)

      def elaborate(self, platform):
          m = Module()
          m.submodules.jtag = jtag = self.jtag

          # get the UART resource, mess with the output tx
          uart = jtag.request('uart')
          intermediary = Signal()
          m.d.comb += uart.tx.eq(~intermediary) # invert, for fun
          m.d.comb += intermediary.eq(uart.rx) # pass rx to tx

          return jtag.boundary_elaborate(m, platform)

Connecting up and building the ASIC is as simple as a non-JTAG,
non-scanning-aware Platform:

    resources = create_resources()
    asic = ASICPlatform(resources)
    hdl = Blinker(resources)
    asic.build(hdl)

The differences:

* The list of resources was also passed to the HDL Module
  such that JTAG may create a complete identical list
  of both core and pad matching Pins
* Resources were requested from the JTAG instance,
  not the Platform
* A "magic function" (JTAG.boundary_elaborate) is called
  which wires up all of the seamlessly intercepted
  Platform resources to the JTAG core/pads Resources,
  where the HDL connected to the core side, exactly
  as if this was a non-JTAG-Scan-aware Platform.
* ASICPlatform still takes care of connecting to actual
  IO Pads, except that the Platform.resource requests were
  triggered "behind the scenes". For that to work it
  is absolutely essential that the JTAG instance and the
  ASICPlatform be given the exact same list of Resources.


## Clock synchronisation

Take for example USB ULPI:

<img src="https://www.crifan.com/files/pic/serial_story/other_site/p_blog_bb.JPG"
width=400 />

Here there is an external incoming clock, generated by the PHY, to which
both Received *and Transmitted* data and control is synchronised.  Notice
very specifically that it is *not the main processor* generating that clock
Signal, but the external peripheral (known as a PHY in Hardware terminology)

Firstly: note that the Clock will, obviously, also need to be routed
through JTAG Boundary Scan, because, after all, it is being received
through just another ordinary IO Pad, after all.  Secondly: note thst
if it didn't, then clock skew would occur for that peripheral because
although the Data Wires went through JTAG Boundary Scan MUXes, the
clock did not.  Clearly this would be a problem.

However, clocks are very special signals: they have to be distributed
evenly to all and any Latches (DFFs) inside the peripheral so that
data corruption does not occur because of tiny delays.
To avoid that scenario, Clock Domain Crossing (CDC) is used, with
Asynchronous FIFOs:

        rx_fifo = stream.AsyncFIFO([("data", 8)], self.rx_depth, w_domain="ulpi", r_domain="sync")
        tx_fifo = stream.AsyncFIFO([("data", 8)], self.tx_depth, w_domain="sync", r_domain="ulpi")
        m.submodules.rx_fifo = rx_fifo
        m.submodules.tx_fifo = tx_fifo

However the entire FIFO must be covered by two Clock H-Trees: one
by the ULPI external clock, and the other the main system clock.
The size of the ULPI clock H-Tree, and consequently the size of
the PHY on-chip, will result in more Clock Tree Buffers being
inserted into the chain, and, correspondingly, matching buffers
on the ULPI data input side likewise must be inserted so that
the input data timing precisely matches that of its clock.

The problem is not receiving of data, though: it is transmission
on the output ULPI side.  With the ULPI Clock Tree having buffers
inserted, each buffer creates delay.  The ULPI output FIFO has to
correspondingly be synchronised not to the original incoming clock
but to that clock *after going through H Tree Buffers*.  Therefore,
there will be a lag on the output data compared to the incoming
(external) clock

# Pinmux GPIO Block
The following diagram is an example of a GPIO block with switchable banks and comes from the Ericson presentation on a GPIO architecture.

[[!img gpio-block.svg size="800x"]]

The block we are developing is very similar, but is lacking some of configuration of the former (due to complexity and time constraints).

## Diagram
[[!img banked_gpio_block.jpg size="600x"]]

*(Diagram is missing the "ie" signal as part of the bundle of signals given to the peripherals, will be updated later)*

## Explanation
The simple GPIO module is multi-GPIO block integral to the pinmux system.
To make the block flexible, it has a variable number of of I/Os based on an
input parameter.

By default, the block is memory-mapped WB bus GPIO. The CPU
core can just write the configuration word to the GPIO row address. From this
perspective, it is no different to a conventional GPIO block.

### Bank Select Options
* bank 0 - WB bus has full control (GPIO peripheral)
* bank 1,2,3 - WB bus only controls puen/pden, periphal gets o/oe/i/ie (Not
fully specified how this should be arranged yet)

Bank select however, allows to switch over the control of the GPIO block to
another peripheral. The peripheral will be given sole connectivity to the
o/oe/i/ie signals, while additional parameters such as pull up/down will either
be automatically configured (as the case for I2C), or will be configurable
via the WB bus. *(This has not been implemented yet, so open to discussion)*

## Configuration Word
After a discussion with Luke on IRC (14th January 2022), new layout of the
8-bit data word for configuring the GPIO (through CSR):

* oe - Output Enable (see the Ericson presentation for the GPIO diagram)
* ie - Input Enable
* puen - Pull-Up resistor enable
* pden - Pull-Down resistor enable
* i/o - When configured as output (oe set), this bit sets/clears output. When
configured as input, shows the current state of input (read-only)
* bank_sel[2:0] - Bank Select (only 4 banks used)

### Simultaneous/Packed Configuration
To make the configuration more efficient, multiple GPIOs can be configured with
one data word. The number of GPIOs in one "row" is dependent on the width of the
WB data bus.

If for example, the data bus is 64-bits wide, eight GPIO configuration bytes -
and thus eight GPIOs - are configured in one go. There is no way to specify
which GPIO in a row is configured, so the programmer has to keep the current
state of the configuration as part of the code (essentially a shadow register).

The diagram below shows the layout of the configuration byte, and how it fits
within a 64-bit data word.

[[!img gpio_csr_example.jpg size="600x"]]

If the block is created with more GPIOs than can fit in a single data word,
the next set of GPIOs can be accessed by incrementing the address.
For example, if 16 GPIOs are instantiated and 64-bit data bus is used, GPIOs
0-7 are accessed via address 0, whereas GPIOs 8-15 are accessed by address 8
(TODO: DOES ADDRESS COUNT WORDS OR BYTES?)

## Example Memory Map
[[!img gpio_memory_example.jpg size="600x"]]

The diagrams above show the difference in memory layout between 16-GPIO block
implemented with 64-bit and 32-bit WB data buses.
The 64-bit case shows there are two rows with eight GPIOs in each, and it will
take two writes (assuming simple WB write) to completely configure all 16 GPIOs.
The 32-bit on the other hand has four address rows, and so will take four write transactions.

64-bit:

* 0x00 - Configure GPIOs  0-7  - requires 8-bit `sel` one bit per GPIO
* 0x01 - Configure GPIOs  8-15 - requires 8-bit `sel` one bit per GPIO

32-bit:

* 0x00 - Configure GPIOs  0-3 - requires 4-bit `sel` one bit per GPIO
* 0x01 - Configure GPIOs  4-7 - requires 4-bit `sel` one bit per GPIO
* 0x02 - Configure GPIOs  8-11 - requires 4-bit `sel` one bit per GPIO
* 0x03 - Configure GPIOs 12-15 - requires 4-bit `sel` one bit per GPIO

Here is the pseudocode for reading the GPIO
data structs:

    read_bytes = []
    for i in range(len(sel)):
        GPIO_num = adr*len(sel)+i
        if sel[i]:
            read_bytes.append(GPIO[GPIO_num])
        else:
            read_bytes.append(Const(0, 8))
    if not wen:
        dat_r.eq(Cat(read_bytes))

and for writing, slightly different style:

    if wen:
        write_bytes = []
        for i in range(len(sel)):
            GPIO_num = adr*len(sel)+i
            write_byte = dat_w.bit_select(i*8, 8)
            if sel[i]:
                GPIO[GPIO_num].eq(write_byte)

As explained in this video

## Combining JTAG BS Chain and Pinmux (In Progress)
[[!img io_mux_bank_planning.JPG size="600x"]]

The JTAG BS chain need to have access to the bank select bits, to allow
selecting different peripherals during testing. At the same time, JTAG may
also require access to the WB bus to access GPIO configuration options
not available to bank 1/2/3 peripherals.

### Proposal
TODO: REWORK BASED ON GPIO JTAG DIAGRAMS BELOW
The proposed JTAG BS chain is as follows:

* Between each peripheral and GPIO block, add a JTAG BS chain. For example
the I2C SDA line will have core o/oe/i/ie, and from JTAG the pad o/oe/i/ie will
connect to the GPIO block's ports 1-3.
* Provide a test port for the GPIO block that gives full access to configuration
(o/oe/i/ie/puen/pden) and bank select. Only allow full JTAG configuration *IF*
ban select bit 2 is set!
* No JTAG chain between WB bus and GPIO port 0 input *(not sure what to do for
this, or whether it is even needed)*.

Such a setup would allow the JTAG chain to control the bank select when testing
connectivity of the peripherals, as well as give full control to the GPIO
configuration when bank select bit 2 is set.

For the purposes of muxing peripherals, bank select bit 2 is ignored. This means
that even if JTAG is handed over full control, the peripheral is still connected
to the GPIO block (via the BS chain).

Signals for various ports:

* WB bus or Periph0: WB data read, data write, address, cyc, stb, ack
* Periph1/2/3: o,oe,i,ie (puen/pden are only controlled by WB, test port, or
fixed by functionality)
* Test port: bank_select[2:0], o,oe,i,ie,puen,pden. In addition, internal
address to access individual GPIOs will be available (this will consist of a
few bits, as more than 16 GPIOs per block is likely to be to big).

As you can see by the above list, the GPIO block is becoming quite a complex
beast. If there are suggestions to simplify or reduce some of the signals,
that will be helpful.*

The diagrams below show 1-bit GPIO connectivity, as well as the 4-bit case.

[[!img gpio_jtag_1bit.jpg size="600x"]]

[[!img gpio_jtag_4bit.jpg size="600x"]]

# Core/Pad Connection + JTAG Mux

Diagram constructed from the nmigen plat.py file.

[[!img i_o_io_tristate_jtag.svg ]]