Digital Logic Lecture 9

Combinational Logic: Binary Adder-Subtractor and Magnitude Comparator

By
Ghada Al-Mashaqbeh The Hashemite University Computer Engineering Department

Outline

Introduction. Binary adders. Binary subtractors. Magnitude comparators.

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Introduction

Till now we have introduced logic gates concepts and combinational circuits design procedure. Logic gates are the basic components in digital computer systems. The basic operations performed by computers are arithmetic operations (+, -, *, /). Chapter 1 shows how addition and subtraction are performed in the binary system (i.e. how they are performed by digital computers). In this lecture we will design adders and subtractors from the basic logic gates introduced in Chapter 2 in addition to binary magnitude comparators.
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Binary Adders I

Binary addition consists of adding two bits with a sum and carry out result. To add n-bit binary numbers do the following:

Add corresponding bits that have the same significance locations starting from the LSBs. The carry out from the lower order significant bits will added to the bits in the next higher order significant location. Check if there is overflow or not.
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Binary Adders II

Two types of binary adders:

Half adders: add two bits only and have a result of 1-bit sum and 1-bit carry out. Full adders: add three bits (the two bits to be added in addition to carry in (Cin) bit) and have a result of 1-bit sum and 1-bit carry out.

Full adder is simply a two cascaded half adders. To add n-bit numbers full adders are used where the Cin of bits in location i is the Cout comes from addition of the bits in location i-1. Adders are combinational circuits where we will study the design of both full and half adders.
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Half Adder Design

Half adders takes two inputs x and y and has two outputs: sum (S) and carry out (C or Cout). Truth table:
x 0 0 1 1 y 0 1 0 1 S C 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 1

Without using K-map it is apparent that S is the output on an XOR gate and C is the output of an AND gate.

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Half Adder Circuit

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Full Adder Design I

Has three inputs: the two bits to be added (x and y) and the carry out coming from the lower significant bits (called Cin and simply we will denote it here as z). Has two outputs: S and Cout (or C). Truth table:

x 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1

y 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 1

z 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1

S C 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 1

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Full Adder Design II

Simplify the expression of both S and C using K-map:

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Full Adder Circuit I

Two options exist:

For the second option:

Either as SOP form for both S and C. Or using two half adders and an OR gate.
The first half adder adds x and y. then the result is added to z using the second half adder. Since S is obtained using an XOR gate in a half adder, for a full adder we have the following:

S x yz
For C: the carry from the first half adder = xy, whereas the carry from the second half adder = z(xy+xy), combining the two caries using OR gate you obtain: C = xy + xyz + xyz Simplify using K-map you get the same C obtained in the previous slide.

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Full Adder Circuit -- SOP

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Full Adder Circuit Two Half Adders

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Binary Adder Design

To add two n-bits numbers simply use n full adders in cascade where the Cout of a two bits is connected to Cin of the higher order significant bits. It is called n-bit binary ripple carry adder (why ripple?). Also it is called n-bit parallel adder since all the inputs (all bits of the two numbers to be added and Cin for the LS adder) are available at the same time for processing. The LSB has a subscript of 0 and the MSB has a subscript of n-1. Cin for LSB adder = 0. An example: 4-bit binary adder.
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4-bit Binary Adder Block Diagram

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Propagation Delay

Logic gates needs time for processing the input to produce the output. This processing time is called propagation delay. For a logic circuit the total propagation delay = d1 + d2 + ... + dn, where dn is the delay for level n in the circuit. Delay of level n in a circuit = the longest propagation delay of all gates found in that level. For n-bit adder, propagation delay = n*delay of full adder.

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Carry Propagation I

For n-bit binary adder, even though all inputs are available in parallel at the same time, each adder must wait for the Cin coming from the lower order adder to start operation. FA0 needs 0 time to start. FA1 needs (1*propagation delay) to start. FA2 needs (2* propagation delay) to start. And so on. So, out binary adder is not 100% parallel since the full adders cannot work with each other at the same time. This concept is called carry propagation in binary adders.
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Carry Propagation II

The concept of carry propagation limits the speed of the adder. A solution for such problem is to make the carry ready for all adders from the beginning. This is done by generating the carry based on the inputs using special hardware. An adder with a carry generator is called carry look

ahead adder.

Such adder is 100% parallel since it becomes a 1 level circuit. The propagation delay 1-level delay. However, such speed is achieved on the expense of more complex hardware and so more cost.
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Binary Subtractor

Remember that to subtract two signed or unsigned numbers you take the complement of the ve numbers and add them. The most commonly used complement system is the 2s complement. 2s complement = 1s complement + 1 Remember that 1 XOR x = x, so the to get the 1s complement just XOR the number with 1. To reduce the cost of the needed hardware computers perform addition and subtraction using the same circuit as shown in the next slide. Also, remember that both signed and unsigned numbers are added and subtracted using the same logic. So, the same circuit can be used for the arithmetic of both numbers types. 18 The Hashemite University

4-bit Binary Adder-Subtractor Block Diagram

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Notes

The logic circuit shown in the previous slide do the following two operations only (for both signed and unsigned numbers):

A+B AB

Why not A B? Do we need an extra adder to perform A B?

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Magnitude Comparator

Is a combinational circuit that determines the relative magnitude of two numbers. Specifically, for two numbers A and B, the magnitude comparator determines whether:

So, the comparator IC has three outputs for the three above relations. It produces a high (1) on the suitable output. For example: A = 1111 and B = 1111 then the pin the defines A = B will have a value of 1 and the other two pins (A > B and A < B) will have a value of 0.
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A=B A>B A<B

Magnitude Comparator Design I

The usual design approach in digital logic is to list all possible inputs combinations and determines the output for each combination via a truth table. If we use this method with comparator then:

To compare two n-bit numbers we need 22n entries in this truth table.

However, we will follow a simple and efficient design approach similar to how humans are thinking.
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Magnitude Comparator Design II

A=B

To compare two n-bits numbers you compare the corresponding bits in them. Express A as AnAn-1 ... A3A2A1A0 and Express B as BnBn-1 ... B3B2B1B0. To have A = B you must have An = Bn, An-1 = Bn-1 ... A1 = B1, and A0 = B0 Remember that an XNOR gate determines whether two bits are equal or not.
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Magnitude Comparator Design III

For two n-bit numbers you need n XNOR gates. However, you need one bit output if = 1 then A = B and 0 otherwise. So, combine the output of all XNOR gates via AND gate if the output of this AND gate = 1 then A = B and 0 otherwise. For a 4-bit magnitude comparator lets the output of the XNOR gates designated as x3, x2, x1, x0 where x3 = A3 XNOR B3 and so on, then: (A = B) = x3x2x1x0
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Magnitude Comparator Design IV

A > B and A < B

Start from the MSB of both A and B if these two bits are equal then compare the next pair of bits located in the lower significant location. Continue till you find a pair of bits that are not equal. If the value of the bit in A is 1 then A > B if the bit in B is 1 then A < B For a 4-bit magnitude comparator remember that the output of the equality XNOR gates are x3, x2, x1, x0, the Boolean expression of A > B and A < B are: (A > B) = A3B3 + x3A2B2 + x3x2A1B1 + x3x2x1A0B0 (A < B) = A3B3 + x3A2B2 + x3x2A1B1 + x3x2x1A0B0

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4-bit magnitude comparator. Note that the design is implemented using the fundamental logic gates (AND, OR, NOT) only (no XOR gates are used)

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Additional Notes

This lecture covers the following material from the textbook:

Chapter 4: Sections 4.5 and 4.8

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