Computer Laboratory

Course pages 2011–12

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Subsections


Paper 2: Digital Electronics

This course is not taken by NST or PPST students.

Lecturer: Dr I.J. Wassell

No. of lectures and practical classes: 11 + 7

This course is a prerequisite for Operating Systems and Computer Design (Part IB).

Aims

The aims of this course are to present the principles of combinational and sequential digital logic design and optimisation at a gate level. The use of transistors for building gates is also introduced.

Lectures

  • Introduction. Semiconductors to computers. Logic variables. Examples of simple logic. Logic gates. Boolean algebra. De Morgan’s theorem.

  • Logic minimisation. Truth tables and normal forms. Karnaugh maps.

  • Binary adders. Half adder, full adder, ripple carry adder, fast carry generation.

  • Combinational logic design: further considerations. Multilevel logic. Gate propagation delay. An introduction to timing diagrams. Hazards and hazard elimination. Other ways to implement combinational logic.

  • Introduction to practical classes. Prototyping box. Breadboard and Dual in line (DIL) packages. Wiring. Use of oscilloscope.

  • Sequential logic. Memory elements. RS latch. Transparent D latch. Master-slave D flip-flop. T and JK flip-flops. Setup and hold times.

  • Sequential logic. Counters: Ripple and synchronous. Shift registers.

  • Synchronous State Machines. Moore and Mealy finite state machines (FSMs). Reset and self starting. State transition diagrams.

  • Further state machines. State assignment: sequential, sliding, shift register, one hot. Implementation of FSMs.

  • Circuits. Solving non-linear circuits. Potential divider. N-channel MOSFET. N-MOS inverter. N-MOS logic. CMOS logic. Logic families. Noise margin. [2 lectures]

Objectives

At the end of the course students should

  • understand the relationships between combination logic and boolean algebra, and between sequential logic and finite state machines;

  • be able to design and minimise combinational logic;

  • appreciate tradeoffs in complexity and speed of combinational designs;

  • understand how state can be stored in a digital logic circuit;

  • know how to design a simple finite state machine from a specification and be able to implement this in gates and edge triggered flip-flops;

  • understand how to use MOS transistors.

Recommended reading

* Harris, D.M. & Harris, S.L. (2007). Digital design and computer architecture. Morgan Kaufmann.
Katz, R.H. (2004). Contemporary logic design. Benjamin/Cummings. The 1994 edition is more than sufficient.
Hayes, J.P. (1993). Introduction to digital logic design. Addison-Wesley.

Books for reference:

Horowitz, P. & Hill, W. (1989). The art of electronics. Cambridge University Press (2nd ed.) (more analog).
Weste, N.H.E. & Harris, D. (2005). CMOS VLSI Design - a circuits and systems perspective. Addison-Wesley (3rd ed.).
Mead, C. & Conway, L. (1980). Introduction to VLSI systems. Addison-Wesley.
Crowe, J. & Hayes-Gill, B. (1998). Introduction to digital electronics. Butterworth-Heinemann.
Gibson, J.R. (1992). Electronic logic circuits. Butterworth-Heinemann.

next up previous contents
Next: Paper 2: Operating Systems Up: Michaelmas Term 2011: Part Previous: Paper 1: Discrete Mathematics   Contents