Electronic – How to build and simulate a T Flip-Flop without a reset in SystemVerilog

digital-logicresetrtlsimulationsystem-verilog

The problem I'm facing is closely related to this: https://electronics.stackexchange.com/a/540545/238188 . I found I could not simulate a T Flip-Flop without a reset on Multisim Live.

I found that I could not get a T Flip-Flop without a reset to simulate in SystemVerilog either, but I could get a JK Flip-Flop without a reset to simulate. This is because I can set a JK Flip-Flop to a known state using J = 0, K = 1 or K = 1, J = 0.

The design code:

module t_ff(input logic t, clk, output logic q, q_bar);
  parameter HOLD = 1'b0,
            TOGGLE = 1'b1;
   
  always_ff @(posedge clk)
    case (t)
        HOLD: q <= q;
        TOGGLE: q <= ~q;
        default: q <= 1'bz;
    endcase
      
  assign q_bar = ~q;
endmodule

I tried using bit in the testbench, but that did not work either (just as I expected). I understand that a reset is important for a Flip-Flop in IC Design, but can't we build a Flip-Flop without a reset? I think the T Flip-Flop can be used without a reset in applications when the input for the flip-flop comes from another digital circuit.

I also came across this question and answer:
Is there a right way of implementing a T flip flop in verilog wrt using reset signal?

But that answer does not mention what should be done if we don't use a reset.

My question arises from this conversation I had with user "Elliot Alderson"

@ElliotAlderson if you design a T Flip-Flop where the only inputs are T and the clock, then there is no way to set the output to a known state in simulation that supports 'X'. Further reading: sutherland-hdl.com/papers/… – Shashank V M Jan 3 at 16:32

@ShashankVM I think you can, with an initial block in Verilog for example. Sutherland writes very useful papers…did you read the first sentence of the second paragraph in Section 7? – Elliot Alderson Jan 3 at 17:42 (Why can't I make flip-flops in logic simulators?)

"Elliot Alderson" says we can use an initial block to set the output to a known state. I followed that comment and read the section of that paper by Sutherland. I found it seems possible according to the paper, but how is it done?

Link to the paper: https://sutherland-hdl.com/papers/2013-DVCon_In-love-with-my-X_paper.pdf

How is this problem handled in Gate-level simulations?

Best Answer

As for "how is this handled in gate level simulation", I've done vlsi design in industry for 15 years and I've never seen a T flip flop since college. A TFF without reset is nonsensical since you can never know what the value is. You could conceivably make a circuit that asserts T if the output is 1 through some FSM that activates once, to put the TFF in a known state. I would call that "reset".

But if you insist, some simulators have a mode to randomly initialize every flip flop in the design. This can be helpful for gate level sims.