Combinational circuits using Decoder

Difficulty Level : Medium
Last Updated : 26 May, 2022

Read

Discuss

Prerequisite- Binary Decoder, Multiplexers

A Decoder is a combinational circuit that converts binary information from $n$ input lines to $2^n$ unique output lines. Apart from the Input lines, a decoder may also have an Enable input line.

Decoder as a De-Multiplexer –

A Decoder with Enable input can function as a demultiplexer. A demultiplexer is a circuit that receives information from a single line and directs it to one of $2^n$ possible output lines.

A $2^n$ demultiplexer receives as input, $n$ selection lines and one Input line. These selection lines are used to select one output line out of $2^n$ possible lines. To implement a $2^n$ demultiplexer, we use a $n:2^n$ decoder with Enable input. The $n$ selection lines of the demultiplexer are the $n$ input lines that the decoder gets and the one input line of demultiplexer is the Enable input of the Decoder.

Making 1:4 demultiplexer using 2:4 Decoder with Enable input. Let A, B be the selection lines and EN be the input line for the demultiplexer.
The decoder shown below functions as a 2:4 demultiplexer when EN is taken as a data input line and A and B are taken as the selection inputs. The single input variable E has a path to all four outputs, but the input information is directed to only one of the output lines, as specified by the binary combination of the two selection lines A and B. This can be verified from the truth table of the circuit.

333

Truth Table-
$\begin{tabular}{|c|c|c||c|c|c|c|} \hline E & A & B & D_0 & D_1 & D_2 & D_3\\ \hline \hline 0 & X & X & 0 & 0 & 0 & 0\\ \hline 1 & 0 & 0 & 1 & 0 & 0 & 0\\ \hline 1 & 0 & 1 & 0 & 1 & 0 & 0\\ \hline 1 & 1 & 0 & 0 & 0 & 1 & 0\\ \hline 1 & 1 & 1 & 0 & 0 & 0 & 1\\ \hline \end{tabular}$

Combinational Logic Implementation using Decoder –

A decoder takes $n$ input lines and has $2^n$ output lines. These output lines can provide the $2^n$ minterms of $n$ input variables.
Since any boolean function can be expressed as a sum of minterms, a decoder that can generate these minterms along with external OR gates that form their logical sums, can be used to form a circuit of any boolean function.

For example, if we need to implement the logic of a full adder, we need a 3:8 decoder and OR gates. The input to the full adder, first and second bits and carry bit, are used as input to the decoder. Let x, y and z represent these three bits. Sum and Carry outputs of a full adder have the following truth tables-
$\begin{tabular}{|c|c|c||c|c|} \hline x & y & z & S & C\\ \hline \hline 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 & 0\\ \hline 0 & 0 & 1 & 1 & 0\\ \hline 0 & 1 & 0 & 1 & 0\\ \hline 0 & 1 & 1 & 0 & 1\\ \hline 1 & 0 & 0 & 1 & 0\\ \hline 1 & 0 & 1 & 0 & 1\\ \hline 1 & 1 & 0 & 0 & 1\\ \hline 1 & 1 & 1 & 1 & 1\\ \hline \end{tabular}$
Therefore we have-
$S = \sum (1, 2, 4, 7)$
$C = \sum (3, 5, 6, 7)$
The following circuit diagram shows the implementation of Full adder using a 3:8 Decoder and OR gates.