Logic Gates

Inverter (NOT Gate)

AND Gate

OR Gate

NAND Gate

NOR Gate

XOR Gate

XNOR Gate

Logic Circuits

  • Contain logic gates
  • Fan-in: the number of inputs of a gate.
    • Gates may have fan-in more than 2

Given a boolean expression, we may implement it as a logic circuit. e.g.

Universal Gates

AND/OR/NOT gates are sufficient for building any Boolean function.

  • They are known as a complete set of logic
  • Other gates are used for:
    • Usefulness (e.g. XOR gate for parity bit generation)
    • Economical
    • Self-sufficient (eg: NAND/ NOR gates)

NAND Gate

  • is also a complete set of logic
  • Proof by building NOT/AND/OR using only NAND gates
    • NOT operation achieved!
    • AND operation achieved!
    • OR operation achieved!

NOR Gate

  • is also a complete set of logic!

SOP and NAND Circuits

  • An SOP expression can be easily implemented using
    • 2-level AND-OR circuit
    • 2-level NAND circuit

POS and NOR Circuits

  • likewise, a POS expression can be easily implemented using
    • e.g.
    • 2-level OR-AND circuit
    • 2-level NOR circuit

Programming Logic Array (PLA)

A programmable integrated circuit

  • implements sum-of-product circuits (allow multiple outputs)

2 Stages

  • AND gates = product terms
  • OR gates = outputs

Example

Example: Combinational Circuit implementation in MIPS

Read only Memory (ROM)

  • Similar to PLA
    • Set of input (called addresses)
    • set of outputs
    • programmable mapping between inputs and outputs
  • Fully decoded: able to implement any mapping
  • In contrast, PLAs may not be able to implement a given mapping due to not having enough minterms.