A bistable multivibrator circuit that usually has two inputs corresponding to the two stable states. It is so called because application of a suitable input pulse causes the device to ‘flip’ into the corresponding state and remain in that state until a pulse on the other input causes it to ‘flop’ into the other state.
Flip-flops are widely used in computers as counting and storage elements and several types have been developed. Flip-flops as described above are unclocked and are triggered directly by the input pulses. Clocked flip-flops have a third input to which a clock pulse is applied. The output state of the device is determined by the state of the inputs at the moment a clock pulse is applied. The basic types of flip-flops are described below.
A D-type flip-flop (‘D’ stands for delay) is a clocked flip-flop with a single input whose output is delayed by one clock pulse: if a logical 1 appears at the input, a logical 1 will appear at the output one clock pulse later.
An R-S flip-flop is a flip-flop whose inputs are designated R and S. The outputs corresponding to the various input combinations are shown in the table of Fig. a. Logical 1s should not be allowed to appear on the inputs together.
Input | Output |
---|
R | S | Q |
|
---|
0 | 0 | no change, same as previous state |
1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
1 | 1 | indeterminate |
A J-K flip-flop is a flip-flop whose inputs are designated J and K (Fig. b). These devices are almost invariably clocked and their outputs are the same as the R-S type except when logical 1s appear together at the inputs. In these circumstances the device changes state. The J-K flip-flop together with the D-type flip-flop are the most useful types of flip-flop.
J | K | Q |
---|
0 | 0 | no change |
0 | 1 | 0 |
1 | 0 | 1 |
1 | 1 | toggle |
An R-S-T flip-flop has three inputs designated R, S, and T. The R and S inputs produce outputs as described above. Application of a pulse to the T input causes the device to change state.
A T flip-flop has only one input. Application of a pulse to this input causes the device to change state.