Digital Electronics Lecture 6

Multivibrators
and the 555 Timer

Dr. Fadi Motawej

 INTRODUCTION
• Timing is very important in digital
electronics.
• Clock oscillators, used to drive counters
and shift registers, must be designed to
oscillate at a specific frequency.
 Multivibrators
• A multivibrator is a circuit that changes
between the two digital levels on a
continuous, free-running basis or on demand
from some external trigger source.
• Basically, there are three types of
multivibrators:
– bistable
– astable
– monostable
• The bistable multivibrator is triggered into
one of the two digital states by an external
source and stays in that state until it is
triggered into the opposite state.
• The S-R flip-flop is a bistable multivibrator; it
is in either the Set or Reset state.
• The astable multivibrator is a free-running
oscillator that alternates between the two
digital levels at a specific frequency and duty
cycle.
• The monostable multivibrator, also known as
a one shot, provides a single output pulse of a
specific time length when it is triggered from
an external source.
• The bistable multivibrator (S-R flip-flop) was
discussed in detail in Logic circuits course.
• The astable and monostable multivibrators
discussed in this lecture can be built from basic
logic gates or from special ICs designed
specifically for timing applications.
• In either case, the charging and discharging rate
of a capacitor is used to provide the specific time
durations required for the circuits to operate.
Capacitor Charge and Discharge Rates
• In some cases, the capacitor is initially
discharged, and v is equal to the final voltage
on the capacitor. But, with astable multivibrator
circuits, the capacitor usually is not fully
discharged, and v is equal to the final voltage
minus the starting voltage.
• If we think of the y axis in the graph as a distance
that the capacitor voltage is traveling through,
the variables in Equation take a new meaning, as
follows:
v = distance that the capacitor voltage travels
E = total distance that the capacitor voltage is trying
to travel
• Using these new definitions, the Equation can be
used whether the capacitor is charging or
discharging (a discharging capacitor can be
thought of as charging to a lower voltage).
• When the switch in Figure is thrown to position 3,
the capacitor discharges through the RC circuit.
The values for the variables in the Equation are
determined the same way as they were for the
charging condition, except that the voltage on the
capacitor is decreasing exponentially.
 The 555 IC Timer
• The 555 is a very popular, general-purpose
timer IC.
• The 555 got its name from the three 5 kΩ
resistors. They are set up as a voltage divider
from VCC to ground.
• Comparator
• RS flip-flop
Astable Operation of the 555 IC Timer
50% Duty Cycle Astable Oscillator
 Example
• The pulsed waveform is applied to the RESET terminal of the astable
multivibrator circuit below. Draw the output waveform ?
 Solution
• The circuit shown is an astable multivibrator with a 500 Hz symmetrical waveform
applied to its RESET terminal.
• The RESET terminal is alternately HIGH and LOW for 1 ms.
• When the RESET input is LOW, the output is forced to the LOW state. When the
RESET input is HIGH, an astable waveform appears at the output.
• The HIGH and LOW time periods of the astable multivibrator are determined as
follows:

• The astable output is thus a 5 kHz symmetrical waveform. Every time the RESET
terminal goes to HIGH for 1 ms, five cycles of 5 kHz waveform appear at the
output.
• Figure below shows the output waveform appearing at terminal 3 of the timer IC.
Monostable Operation of the 555 IC Timer
 Crystal Oscillators
• None of the RC oscillators or one shots studied are
extremely stable.
• The standard procedure for building those timing circuits is
to calculate the R and C values using the formulas and then
adjust the resistor values while observing the time period
on an oscilloscope.
• Normally, standard values are chosen for the capacitors,
and potentiometers are used for the resistors.
• However, even after a careful calibration of the time
period, changes in the components and IC occur as the
devices age and as the ambient temperature varies.
• To partially overcome this problem, some manufacturers
will allow their circuits to burn in, or age for several weeks,
before the final calibration and shipment.
• Instead of using RC components, another timing
component is available to the design engineer
when extremely critical timing is required. This
highly stable and accurate timing component is
the quartz crystal
• A piece of quartz crystal is cut to a specific size
and shape to vibrate at a specific frequency,
similar to an RLC resonant circuit.
• Its frequency is typically in the range 10 kHz to 10
MHz.