The constraints scoping mechanism is activated by specifying the following properties on the XDC files:
- SCOPED_TO_REF
- This property takes the name of a module (or entity). The constraints are applied to ALL instances of the specified module (or entity) only.
- SCOPED_TO_CELLS
- This property takes a list of hierarchical cell names. The constraints are scoped and applied to each hierarchical cell individually.
- SCOPED_TO_REF + SCOPED_TO_CELLS
- If both these properties are specified, the constraints are applied to each cell of the SCOPED_TO_CELLS list, located inside the module (or entity) specified by SCOPED_TO_REF.
These properties are automatically set by the Vivado Design Suite for IP cores added to your RTL project by means of the IP catalog.