Clock Period Definition

Clock period is defined as the time difference between two consecutive rising or falling clock edges when they cross a specific reference level. Clock period can be calculated by taking an inverse of the clock frequency.

Clock Period DspSee Symbol

Active Edge	Clock Period
Falling	Falling edge clock period is the time difference between two consecutive falling clock edges when they cross a specific reference level.
Rising	Rising edge clock period is the time difference between two consecutive rising clock edges when they cross a specific reference level.
Both	It is the time difference between two consecutive clock edges (a rising & a falling) when they cross a specific reference level.

Significance of statistics:
Mean	The mean clock period should be as close to the required clock period as possible. A longer period will result in a slower system speed. A shorter period will result in smaller timing margins.
Min	The min period should also be as close to the required clock period as possible. A smaller period will result in lesser timing margins.
Max	The max period should be as close to the required clock period as possible. A higher value will result in lesser system speed.
Peak cy-cy	Very important. The peak cycle-to-cycle value should be as small as possible. This is also called cycle-to-cycle jitter. Higher the peak cycle-to-cycle value, smaller will be the timing margin.
Peak-to-peak	The peak-to-peak value should be as small as possible. Higher peak-to-peak values can cause problems with PLLs.

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