Digital Components

Chapter 25

Introduction
Gate Characteristics
Logic Families
Logic Family Characteristics
A Comparison of Logic Families
Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor
Transistor-Transistor Logic

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Introduction

25.1

Earlier we looked at a range of digital applications

based on logic gates at that time we treated the
gates as black boxes
We will now consider the construction of such gates,
and their characteristics
In this lecture we will concentrate on small- and
medium-scale integration circuits containing just a
handful of gates
typical gates are shown on the next slide
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 Typical logic device pin-outs

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Gate Characteristics

25.2

The inverter or NOT gate

consider the characteristics of a simple inverting
amplifier as shown below
we normally use only the linear region

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 We can use an inverting amplifier as a logical inverter

but using only the non-linear region

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 we choose input values to ensure that we are always

outside of the linear region as in (a)
unlike linear amplifiers, we use circuits with a rapid
transition between the non-linear regions as in (b)

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 Logic levels
the voltage ranges representing 0 and 1 represent
the logic levels of the circuit
often logic 0 is represented by a voltage close to 0 V
but the allowable voltage range varies considerably
the voltage used to represent logic 1 also varies
greatly. In some circuits it might be 2-4 V, while in
others it might be 12-15 V
in order for one gate to work with another the logic
levels must be compatible
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 Noise immunity
noise is present in all real systems
this adds random fluctuations to voltages representing
logic levels
to cope with noise, the voltage ranges defining the
logic levels are more tightly constrained at the output
of a gate than at the input
thus small amounts of noise will not affect the circuit
the maximum noise voltage that can be tolerated by a
circuit is termed its noise immunity, VNI
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 Transistors as switches
both FETs and bipolar transistors make good switches
neither form produce ideal switches and their
characteristics are slightly different
both forms of device take a finite time to switch and
this produces a slight delay in the operation of the gate
this is termed the propagation delay of the circuit

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 The FET as a logical switch

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 Rise and fall times

because the waveforms are not perfectly square we
need a way of measuring switching times
we measure the rise time, tr and fall time, tf as
shown below

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 The bipolar transistor as a logical switch

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 when the input voltage to a bipolar transistor is high

the transistor turns ON and the output voltage is driven
down to its saturation voltage which is about 0.1 V
however, saturation of the transistor results in the
storage of excess charge in the base region
this increases the time taken to turn OFF the device
an effect known as storage time
this makes the device faster to turn ON than OFF
some switching circuits increase speed by preventing
the transistors from entering saturation
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 Timing considerations
all gates have a certain propagation delay time, tPD
this is the average of the two switching times
tPD 21 (tPHL tPLH )

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Logic Families

25.3

We have seen that different devices use different

voltages ranges for their logic levels
They also differ in other characteristics
In order to assure correct operation when gates are
interconnected they are normally produced in families
The most widely used families are:
complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS)
transistor-transistor logic (TTL)
emitter-coupled logic (ECL)
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Logic Family Characteristics

25.4

Complementary metal oxide semiconductor

(CMOS)
most widely used family for large-scale devices
combines high speed with low power consumption
usually operates from a single supply of 5 15 V
excellent noise immunity of about 30% of supply voltage
can be connected to a large number of gates (about 50)
many forms some with tPD down to 1 ns
power consumption depends on speed (perhaps 1 mW)
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 Transistor-transistor logic (TTL)

based on bipolar transistors
one of the most widely used families for small- and
medium-scale devices rarely used for VLSI
typically operated from 5V supply
typical noise immunity about 1 1.6 V
many forms, some optimised for speed, power, etc.
high speed versions comparable to CMOS (~ 1.5 ns)
low-power versions down to about 1 mW/gate
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 Emitter-coupled logic (ECL)

based on bipolar transistors, but removes problems of
storage time by preventing the transistors from
saturating
very fast operation - propagation delays of 1ns or less
high power consumption, perhaps 60 mW/gate
low noise immunity of about 0.2-0.25 V
used in some high speed specialist applications, but
now largely replaced by high speed CMOS

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A Comparison of Logic Families

25.5

Parameter

CMOS

TTL

ECL

Basic gate

NAND/NOR

NAND

OR/NOR

>50

10

25

1 @ 1 MHz

1 - 22

4 - 55

Excellent

Very good

Good

1 - 200

1.5 33

1-4

Fan-out
Power per gate (mW)
Noise immunity
tPD (ns)

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Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor

25.6

A CMOS inverter

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 CMOS gates

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 CMOS logic levels and noise immunity

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Transistor-Transistor Logic

25.7

Discrete TTL inverter and NAND gate circuits

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 A basic integrated circuit TTL NAND gate

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 A standard TTL NAND gate

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 A TTL NAND gate with open collector output

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Key Points

Physical gates are not ideal components

Logic gates are manufactured in a range of logic families
The ability of a gate to ignore noise is its noise immunity
Both MOSFETs and bipolar transistors are used in gates
All logic gates exhibit a propagation delay when
responding to changes in their inputs
The most widely used logic families are CMOS and TTL
CMOS is available in a range of forms offering high speed
or very low power consumption
TTL logic is also produced in many versions, each
optimised for a particular characteristic
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