Lump circuits are defined to be circuits whose size is smaller than the wavelength of their highest frequency. In lay terms that means that every signal can get to any part of the circuit in less than one 'cycle.' That makes the math a whole lot easier and it means you can safely ignore 'transmission line' effects.
When your circuit is larger than the wavelength of your highest frequency, your propagation delays make it more like a distributed system than a single circuit.
Digital circuits like microprocessors work in part by creating 'synchronization points' with global clocks. Synchronous circuits avoid the issues of wave front propagation by pausing until the signal has reached all over the circuit.
When your circuit is larger than the wavelength of your highest frequency, your propagation delays make it more like a distributed system than a single circuit.
Digital circuits like microprocessors work in part by creating 'synchronization points' with global clocks. Synchronous circuits avoid the issues of wave front propagation by pausing until the signal has reached all over the circuit.