without being any expert on the topic, have you considered that bad
PCB layout (ground bounce, crosstalk, too long traces, no termination
and so on) might be the cause of the noisy data? PCB layout is very
important at high frequencies > 25Mhz and with fast risetimes.

Hello,

I'm trying to register some data coming from an ADC at 4ns period. I
currently have the following in my UCF:

<SNIP>
NET "adc_clk_p" TNM_NET = "TG_adc_clk_p";
TIMESPEC "TS_adc_clk_p" = PERIOD "TG_adc_clk_p" 4 ns HIGH 50%;
NET "adc?_db_p<*>" OFFSET = IN 1.0 ns BEFORE "adc_clk_p";
NET "adc?_db_n<*>" OFFSET = IN 1.0 ns BEFORE "adc_clk_n";
</SNIP>

However, the adc data arrives 2.59 ns +- (jitter) after the rising
edge of the clock. Is there anyway I can specify this in the TIMESPEC?
The PHASE attribute of TIMESPEC appears to only be valid for clock
relationships, correct?

I meet the constraints just fine, but when I inspect the registers in
chipscope, the adc output looks noisy:

http://img442.imageshack.us/my.php?image=adctimeif2.jpg (time domain)
http://img58.imageshack.us/my.php?image=adcfreqtp5.jpg (freq domain)

Here's the output from Timing Analyzer:

<SNIP>
================================================================================
Timing constraint: COMP "adc1_db_n<0>" OFFSET = IN 1 ns BEFORE COMP
"adc_clk_n";

 1 item analyzed, 0 timing errors detected. (0 setup errors, 0 hold
errors)
 Minimum allowable offset is   0.824ns.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Slack:                  0.176ns (requirement - (data path - clock path
- clock arrival + uncertainty))
  Source:               adc1_db_n<0> (PAD)
  Destination:          adc1_iface/ibuf_out_r_0 (FF)
  Destination Clock:    adc_clk rising at 0.000ns
  Requirement:          1.000ns
  Data Path Delay:      1.389ns (Levels of Logic = 2)
  Clock Path Delay:     0.745ns (Levels of Logic = 4)
  Clock Uncertainty:    0.180ns

  Data Path: adc1_db_n<0> to adc1_iface/ibuf_out_r_0
    Delay type         Delay(ns)  Logical Resource(s)
    ----------------------------  -------------------
    Tiopp                 1.206   adc1_db_n<0>
    net (fanout=1)        0.000   adc1_iface/
array_gen[0].diffend_gen.ibufds_inst/SLAVEBUF.DIFFIN
    Tiodi                 0.000   adc1_iface/
array_gen[0].diffend_gen.ibufds_inst/IBUFDS
    net (fanout=1)        0.054   adc1_iface/ibuf_out<0>
    Tidock                0.129   adc1_iface/ibuf_out_r_0
    ----------------------------  ---------------------------
    Total                 1.389ns (1.335ns logic, 0.054ns route)
                                  (96.1% logic, 3.9% route)
</SNIP>

I believe I want adc_clk rising at 0.000 ns to be adc_clk rising at
4.0-2.59 ns = 1.41 ns?