Datasheet

34
8021G–AVR–03/11
ATmega329P/3290P
8.10.1 Switching Time
When switching between prescaler settings, the System Clock Prescaler ensures that no
glitches occur in the clock system and that no intermediate frequency is higher than neither the
clock frequency corresponding to the previous setting, nor the clock frequency corresponding to
the new setting.
The ripple counter that implements the prescaler runs at the frequency of the undivided clock,
which may be faster than the CPU’s clock frequency. Hence, it is not possible to determine the
state of the prescaler – even if it were readable, and the exact time it takes to switch from one
clock division to another cannot be exactly predicted.
From the time the CLKPS values are written, it takes between T1 + T2 and T1 + 2*T2 before the
new clock frequency is active. In this interval, 2 active clock edges are produced. Here, T1 is the
previous clock period, and T2 is the period corresponding to the new prescaler setting.