SWITCHING THEORY AND LOGIC DESIGN LABORATORY ACTIVITY #1

Republic of the Philippines

Biliran Province State University
(formerly NAVAL STATE UNIVERSITY)
ISO 9001:2015 CERTIFIED
School of Engineering

Laboratory Activity #1:

Breadboard, Transistor and
Inverter

Module 1

Name of Student

DAHLIA D. DE LEON-FERNANDEZ, MPM,MAED

Instructor
DAHLIA D. DE LEON-FERNANDEZ,MPM,MAED 1
 SWITCHING THEORY AND LOGIC DESIGN LABORATORY ACTIVITY #1

This Module entitled Laboratory Activity #1: Breadboard, Transistor and

Inverter, prepared and submitted by Engr. Dahlia D. Fernandez has been examined,
accepted, and approved for reproduction and utilization.

The Curriculum/Instructional Materials Committee

VIVENCIO A. PELESCO, MSci.

Member
Dean, School of Engineering

MARIA MORENA E. DELA PEÑA, Ph.D.

Member
Director for Production and Academic-Related Services

JASON V. ANG, Ed.D.

Member
Director for Curriculum, Instruction, and Faculty Development

ROSSINI B. ROMERO, Ph.D.

Chairperson
Vice President for Academics, Research and Innovation
Date Approved: _______________

DAHLIA D. DE LEON-FERNANDEZ,MPM,MAED 2
SWITCHING THEORY AND LOGIC DESIGN LABORATORY ACTIVITY #1

Vision
A state university leading in research and innovation for human
empowerment
and societal development

Mission
To advance the university through innovative human resource, responsive
research, sustainable production, and demand-driven extension services

Core Values
Brilliance Innovation Progress Service & Unity

Quality Policy
"NSU is Yes to, Open to, and United to quality education by
developing world-class graduates and intensifying research and
development, extension, and production in compliance to statutory and
regulatory requirements to ensure customer satisfaction that leads to the
continual improvement of the quality management system."

DAHLIA D. DE LEON-FERNANDEZ,MPM,MAED 3
 SWITCHING THEORY AND LOGIC DESIGN LABORATORY ACTIVITY #1

LABORATORY ACTIVITY 1

Breadboard, Transistor and Inverter

Objectives:

• Use the digital trainer and breadboard.

• Assemble a circuit.
• Build a logic circuit with discrete components.

The Transistor

A transistor is a three-terminal device that can be used as an amplifier or as a

switch. When the transistor is used as an amplifier, it is working in analog mode. When it
is being used as an electronic switch, it is functioning in digital mode. The transistor will
only be used in digital mode in these labs, which means the transistor will either be on or
off. The terms ground, low, zero, zero volts, open switch, and dark lamp are all equivalent
to the boolean value false. Likewise five volts, high, one, closed switch, and lit lamp (LED),
are equivalent to the boolean value true. We will use false (F or 0) and true (T or 1) when
speaking of the logical states in this manual. Modern computers contain millions of
transistors combined together in digital mode to create advanced circuits.

Transistors are three pin devices that are similar to valves for controlling
electricity. The amount of current that can flow between the collector and emitter is a
function of the current flowing through the base of the transistor. If no current is
flowing through the base of t h e transistor, no current will flow through the collector
and emitter. With the transistor operating in digital mode, it will be configured to carry
the maximum (if on) or minimum (if off) amount of current from the collector to the
emitter that the circuit will allow.

The transistor used in this

lab, the pn2222 or 2n2222, is an
NPN, bipolar junction transistor
which is sometimes referred to as
a BJT. Other types of transistors
exist, and while they differ in how
they function, they are used in a
similar manner in digital circuits. In
this lab, a single transistor will be
used to create an inverter. The
principles used to build this
inverter could be applied to other
circuits with other types of
transistors. Pinouts of the two
types of transistors most likely to
be used in these labs are shown in
Exhibit 1.1.

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 SWITCHING THEORY AND LOGIC DESIGN LABORATORY ACTIVITY #1

The Breadboard

In order to build the circuit, a digital design kit that contains a power supply,
switches for input, light emitting diodes (LEDs), and a breadboard will be used. Make sure
to follow your instructor's safety instructions when assembling, debugging, and observing
your circuit. You may also need other items for your lab such as: logic chips, wire, wire
cutters, a transistor, etc. Exhibit 1.2 shows a common breadboard, while Exhibit 1.3
shows how each set of pins are tied together electronically. Exhibit 1.4 shows a fairly
complex circuit built on a breadboard. For these labs, the highest voltage used in your
designs will be five volts or +5V and the lowest will be 0V or ground.

A few words of caution regarding the use of the breadboard:

Keep the power off when wiring the circuit.

Make sure to keep things neat, as you can tell from Exhibit 1.4, it is easy for
designs to get complex and as a result become difficult to debug.
Do not strip more insulation off of the wires used than is necessary. This can
cause wires that are logically at different levels to accidentally touch each other.
This creates a short circuit.
Do not push the wires too far into each hole in the breadboard as this can cause
two different problems.
▪ The wire can be pushed so far that only the insulation of the wire comes
into contact with the breadboard, causing an open circuit.
▪ Too much wire is pushed into the hole; it curls under and ends up touching
another component at a different logical level. This causes a short circuit.
Use the longer outer rows for +5V on one side and ground on the other side.
Wire power to the circuit first using a common color (say red) for +5V and another
(black) for ground.
Always make sure to have a clearly documented circuit diagram before you start
wiring the circuit.

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 SWITCHING THEORY AND LOGIC DESIGN LABORATORY ACTIVITY #1

The Inverter

The inverter, sometimes referred to as a NOT gate, is a simple digital circuit

requiring one transistor and two resistors. The
circuit should be connected as in Exhibit 1.5.
Make sure to start with a neat diagram in your
lab notebook before you start constructing
your circuit! The input is connected to a switch
and the output connected to an LED. The two
resistors are current limiting resistors and are
sized to insure that the circuit operates in
digital mode. If the inverter circuit is altered
slightly with the addition of another transistor
placed in series with the current one, it results
in one more input and the creation of a NAND
gate. Likewise, if another transistor is added in
parallel with the transistor in the inverter
circuit a NOR gate can be built.

Resistors and Capacitors

Resistors

Resistors are electronic components that obey Ohm's law: Voltage across a
resistor is equal to the current through the resistor times the resistance of the device.

V=I*R

Resistance is measured in ohms (Ω). Current and voltage are related by the
resistance of the object, if voltage is kept constant and resistance rises, current will
fall. Likewise if resistance decreases, more current will flow, meaning the measure of the
current will rise. While many devices have resistance, including the wire used in these

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 SWITCHING THEORY AND LOGIC DESIGN LABORATORY ACTIVITY #1

labs, the only resistance that we will be concerned with in this manual is the resistance
attributed to actual resistors. Manufactured resistors come in various forms, however
those used here will be standard ¼ watt resistors that follow the conventional color code
that describes their value.

Figure 1: Sample Resistor

Table 1: Color Codes

Each resistor has four colored stripes as shown in the figure above. Each stripe
corresponds to a number as shown in Table 1. The formula for the value of each resistor
is listed below

Generic Formula: A B x 10C

Which for this case yields: 20 x 103 or 20,000 Ω.

The first two stripes indicate the numerical value of the resistance, the third the
exponent of ten which will be multiplied by the numbers from the first two stripes, and
the fourth a tolerance of the resistor. The diagram above illustrates how the first three
stripes are used to calculate the value of the resistor as well as the diagram below. The
mnemonic is often suggested as a means of remembering the color code. The tolerances
is not being utilized. Another example is provided in Exhibit 2. Applying the formula to
obtain the value for this resistor is left as an exercise for the reader.

Figure 2: OHM Resistor

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 SWITCHING THEORY AND LOGIC DESIGN LABORATORY ACTIVITY #1

Capacitors

In direct current circuits, capacitors can be thought of as charge storage devices.

Electrolytic capacitors will be used in these labs. Electrolytic capacitors appear to look
like a tiny aluminum can with two wires. Be cautious when connecting the electrolytic
capacitors as they have a polarity. Insure that the negative terminal of the capacitor is
connected properly or the capacitor can malfunction and in some cases explode! The unit
of measurement for capacitors is the Farad. Capacitors with higher Farad measurements
can store more charge at a given voltage.

Figure 3: Capacitors

PART 1

Procedure:

1. Sketch your breadboard. Make sure to indicate which portions of the board are
electrically connected in common.
2. Construct a truth table for an inverter with x being the input and !x being the output.
3. Using the color codes, determine the value of each of the resistors. You may need
to review Appendix B if you are unfamiliar with using resistors.
a. red, orange, red
b. brown, black, orange
c. orange, orange, orange
d. brown, black, green
4. Construct a truth table for a NAND gate.
5. Construct a truth table for a NOR gate.

PART 2

Procedure:

1. Draw a diagram of a NAND inverter circuit using two NPN transistors.

2. Construct the NAND circuit.

DAHLIA D. DE LEON-FERNANDEZ,MPM,MAED 8