● What is a Multivibrator?

>A multivibrator is an electronic circuit that produces

continuous square wave or rectangular wave oscillations.
Common types include astable and monostable multivibrators.
They find applications in pulse generators, timers, and digital circuits
1.Astable Multivibrator using 555 Timer.

Astable multivibrator is also called as Free Running Multivibrator.

It has no stable states and continuously switches between the two
states without application of any external trigger.
The IC 555 can be made to work as an astable multivibrator with
addition of three external components: two resistors (R1 and R2)
and a capacitor (C).
The pins 2 and 6 are connected and hence there is no need for an
external trigger pulse. It will self trigger and act as a free running
multivibrator (oscillator). The rest of the connections are as follows:
pin 8 is connected to supply voltage (VCC). Pin 3 is the output
terminal and hence the output is available at this pin. Pin 4 is the
external reset pin. A momentary low on this pin will reset the timer.
Hence, when not in use, pin 4 is usually tied to VCC.
The control voltage applied at pin 5 will change the
threshold voltage level. But for normal use, pin 5 is
connected to ground via a capacitor (usually 0.01µF),
so the external noise from the terminal is filtered out.
Pin 1 is ground terminal. The timing circuit that determines
the width of the output pulse is made up of R1, R2 and C.

Frequency:

The frequency of the output waveform is primarily

determined by the charging and discharging times of the
external capacitor (C1).
It is given by the formula: f = 1.44/(R1 + 2.R2)C1
where f is the frequency in Hertz, R1 and R2 are the
resistance values, and C1 is the capacitance.

Duty Cycle:

The duty cycle represents the ratio of the time the output
is high to the total period of one cycle.
It is given by the formula: D = T1/(T1+T2)
where T1 is Charging and T2 is discharging time.
Changing the ratio of R1 to R2 alters the duty cycle.
The average Duty Cycle will be 66%
2. Monostable Multivibrator using 555 Timer.

Circuit and Operation:

The following figure is the schematic of IC 555 as a Monostable Multivibrator.
This is the basic mode of operation of the IC 555. It requires only two extra components
to make it work as a monostable multivibrator: a resistor and a capacitor.
As the name specifies, a monostable multivibrator has only one stable state.

When a trigger input is applied, a pulse is produced at the output and returns back to
the stable state after a time interval. The duration of time for which the pulse is high
will depend on the timing circuit that comprises of a resistor (R) and a capacitor (C).

The monostable mode is also called “one-shot” pulse generator. The sequence of events
starts when a negative going trigger pulse is applied to the trigger comparator.
When this trigger comparator senses the short negative going trigger pulse to be just
below the reference voltage (1/3 VCC), the device triggers and the output goes HIGH.
Applications:
Frequency Divider, Pulse Width Modulation, Linear Ramp Generator etc.