resources.

Clock tree:

No mesh net required; the number of design stages is optimal.
Low power dissipation.
Made of a clock source, clock-tree cells, clock-gating cells, buffers and loads.
Best suited to slow-clock circuit designs.

KEY Mesh = lowest skew but high power/complexity; tree = low power, fewer stages, slow-clock designs.

CTS vs Clock Tree Distribution

No. Clock tree synthesis (CTS) is the process used to design the clock tree distribution system, minimising insertion delay and skew. CTS works with ideal clock arrival times, whereas the clock tree distribution system uses the real clock arrival times.

KEY CTS is the process that builds the distribution system; CTS uses ideal times, distribution uses real ones.

The Need for Clock Gating

Clock gating controls clock toggling activity. The clock drives many elements and burns a lot of power, so the ability to switch off toggling when it is not needed saves dynamic power. Extra logic disables the unused clock states.

Used commonly at RTL, it cuts dynamic power and die size without affecting functionality - it prunes the clock tree by stopping flip-flop switching, making that switching power zero. Functionally it needs only an AND or OR gate, with the second input used to turn off the clock to inactive receivers.

KEY Clock gating stops the clock to idle logic - a simple AND/OR gate that saves dynamic power.