Clock signals: short ? or match the propagation delay with other signals?

[Creedonics]

Hello everyone,

this is a general question and i was wondering if there is a general rule of thumb when it comes to clock signals, some ICs have enough information about the Clock signal, for example if it needs to be as short as possible or to have a propagation delay that is equal to some IO signals in that IC. but what about ICs that don't have informations at all ? what needs to be done about those clock signals ? what is the rule of thumb ? should they always be as short as possible, should they be matched to the rest of the signals of the IC, or something else maybe ?

thank you everyone!!

[qdrives]

Well, a simple rule of thumb for ALL signals is to have them a short as possible.
The difficulty is in selecting which net is the most important.

For clocks it is quite simple, high frequency change, all the time.
However, that does not allow them to always be the shortest. If data signals need to arrive 'prior' to the clock, they need to be shorter or equal.