Talk:Flip-flop (electronics)

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Historical Contributions by Claude Shannon?

It appears the RS flip-flop appears on page 30 of Claude Shannon's 1940 Master's Thesis, as what he calls a "lock-in" circuit:

http://mondrian.die.udec.cl/~mmedina/Clases/SistDig/Shannon%20-%20A%20Symbolic%20Analysis%20of%20Relay%20and%20Switching%20Circuits.pdf

CMOS implementation of an edge-triggered D-flip flop

Anyone care to explain how this circuit functions / provide sources ? It comes without any explanations, and hand analysis + simulations don't show it working. Besides it doesn't have any feedback loop, so I fail to see how it could act as a sequential system ? NoahhaoN (talk) 01:37, 18 May 2017 (UTC)[reply]

I agree. It looks wrong. It has no feedback so the only way it can save a bit value is by charging a stray capacitor, but I can't see where that would be. A correct CMOS D flip-flop is shown at http://www.learnabout-electronics.org/Digital/dig55.php figure 5.5.2. I think the illustration must be changed and the text should emphasize that it is specific for CMOS technology - it doesn't work with bipolar transistors. Agnerf (talk) 11:42, 21 August 2018 (UTC)[reply]

I moved it into the dynamic section. Dicklyon (talk) 23:56, 5 January 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Multi-bit Latch vs single-bit flip-flop. Edge-trigger designation.

The term flip-flop is not consistently used to differentiate edge triggered from level triggered devices, but the term flip-flop has always consistently referred to a single bit storage element constructed from logic gates. The term latch has historically been used for multiple bit storage elements that share a trigger. The terms edge triggered and level triggered are clear and unambiguous and should be used to differentiate between the triggering mechanism, rather than trying to use flip-flop for that purpose. "Level triggered flip-flop" can be found in textbooks from the 70's^[1], and changing the terminology makes reading older material misleading. It's clearer to stick with the original designations:

References

^ Roth, Charles, Fundamentals of Logic Design, 2ed. West 1979.

Edge triggered flip-flops

clearly a single bit
clearly edge triggered

Level triggered flip-flops

clearly a single bit
clearly level triggered

Edge triggered Latches

clearly edge triggered
may store multiple bits

Level triggered Latches

clearly level triggered
may store multiple bits

Use of this terminology is historically consistent and unambiguous. Also, because multi-bit latches exist, they should have their own page. The internals of storage of each bit should direct to the flip-flop page.

132.160.49.90 (talk) 22:41, 5 January 2019 (UTC)Dr. T.S. U.of H. Jan 2019[reply]

I support this suggestion. At least parts of it agree with the 2013 update of the referenced text. Dicklyon (talk) 23:41, 5 January 2019 (UTC)[reply]

I agree flip-flop is one bit. I don't think the rest is even vaguely standard. Usually for multi-bit flip-flops the term "register" is used. Hobit (talk) 02:47, 16 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Q and Q-bar do not switch exactly simultaneously

In latches and flip flops Q and Qbar do not change signal exactly simultaneously. Should this fact be added to the article, together with it's consequences? Jacob.Koot (talk) 11:12, 15 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Latches vs Flip-flops again

I'd like to clean up this issue. As noted above, the interchangeable use of "latch" and "flip-flop" hasn't been standard for probably decades. If needed we can have a formal RfC, but I thought just see if we can agree to use latch for the transparent/asynchronous devices and flip-flop for the synchronous edge-triggered devices. Objections? Hobit (talk) 02:46, 16 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

[1] Roth, Charles, Fundamentals of Logic Design, 2ed. West 1979.

[1]