A method and circuit arrangement for determining performance of a digital
circuit to a critical degree by the transit time of signals of the
longest signal path, also called the critical path. Since the signal
transit time is influenced by the operating voltage, by regulating the
operating voltage, to compensate for the effects caused by temperature
and process fluctuations on the signal transit time in the digital
circuit. In particular, the operating voltage can be regulated as a
function of the signal transit time in such a way that a required minimum
operating frequency can always be achieved. To determine signal transit
time, the digital circuit has associated with it a number of replicas of
the critical path in the digital circuit upon which the signal transit
time is determined. In order to determine the transit time, the signal
path replicas are exposed to the same operating conditions as the digital
circuit. Also, to allow a safety margin to be obtained, the signal path
replicas have additional circuit elements that further slow down the
signal transit times on the signal path replicas. Further, the mean of
the transit times on the signal path replicas is determined.