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UNIT-2
Combinational Circuits
Combinational circuit is a circuit in which we combine the different gates in the circuit, for
example encoder, decoder, multiplexer and demultiplexer. Some of the characteristics of
combinational circuits are following −
• The output of combinational circuit at any instant of time, depends only on the
levels present at input terminals.
• The combinational circuit do not use any memory. The previous state of input
does not have any effect on the present state of the circuit.
• A combinational circuit can have an n number of inputs and m number of
outputs.
Block diagram

We're going to elaborate few important combinational circuits as follows.

Half Adder
Half adder is a combinational logic circuit with two inputs and two outputs. The half adder
circuit is designed to add two single bit binary number A and B. It is the basic building block
for addition of two single bit numbers. This circuit has two outputs carry and sum.
Block diagram

Truth Table

Circuit Diagram
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Full Adder
Full adder is developed to overcome the drawback of Half Adder circuit. It can add two one-
bit numbers A and B, and carry c. The full adder is a three input and two output combinational
circuit.
Block diagram

Truth Table

Circuit Diagram
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N-Bit Parallel Adder

The Full Adder is capable of adding only two single digit binary number along with a carry
input. But in practical we need to add binary numbers which are much longer than just one bit.
To add two n-bit binary numbers we need to use the n-bit parallel adder. It uses a number of
full adders in cascade. The carry output of the previous full adder is connected to carry input
of the next full adder.
4 Bit Parallel Adder
In the block diagram, A0 and B0 represent the LSB of the four bit words A and B. Hence Full
Adder-0 is the lowest stage. Hence its Cin has been permanently made 0. The rest of the
connections are exactly same as those of n-bit parallel adder is shown in fig. The four bit
parallel adder is a very common logic circuit.
Block diagram

N-Bit Parallel Subtractor

The subtraction can be carried out by taking the 1's or 2's complement of the number to be
subtracted. For example we can perform the subtraction (A-B) by adding either 1's or 2's
complement of B to A. That means we can use a binary adder to perform the binary subtraction.
4 Bit Parallel Subtractor
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The number to be subtracted (B) is first passed through inverters to obtain its 1's complement.
The 4-bit adder then adds A and 2's complement of B to produce the subtraction.
S3 S2 S1 S0 represents the result of binary subtraction (A-B) and carry output Cout represents the
polarity of the result. If A > B then Cout = 0 and the result of binary form (A-B) then Cout = 1
and the result is in the 2's complement form.
Block diagram

Half Subtractors
Half subtractor is a combination circuit with two inputs and two outputs (difference and
borrow). It produces the difference between the two binary bits at the input and also produces
an output (Borrow) to indicate if a 1 has been borrowed. In the subtraction (A-B), A is called
as Minuend bit and B is called as Subtrahend bit.
Truth Table

Circuit Diagram
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Full Subtractors
The disadvantage of a half subtractor is overcome by full subtractor. The full subtractor is a
combinational circuit with three inputs A,B,C and two output D and C'. A is the 'minuend', B
is 'subtrahend', C is the 'borrow' produced by the previous stage, D is the difference output and
C' is the borrow output.
Truth Table

Circuit Diagram
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Multiplexers
Multiplexer is a special type of combinational circuit. There are n-data inputs, one output and
m select inputs with 2m = n. It is a digital circuit which selects one of the n data inputs and
routes it to the output. The selection of one of the n inputs is done by the selected inputs.
Depending on the digital code applied at the selected inputs, one out of n data sources is
selected and transmitted to the single output Y. E is called the strobe or enable input which is
useful for the cascading. It is generally an active low terminal that means it will perform the
required operation when it is low.
Block diagram

Multiplexers come in multiple variations

• 2 : 1 multiplexer
• 4 : 1 multiplexer
• 16 : 1 multiplexer
• 32 : 1 multiplexer

Block Diagram
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Truth Table

Demultiplexers
A demultiplexer performs the reverse operation of a multiplexer i.e. it receives one input and
distributes it over several outputs. It has only one input, n outputs, m select input. At a time
only one output line is selected by the select lines and the input is transmitted to the selected
output line. A de-multiplexer is equivalent to a single pole multiple way switch as shown in
fig.
Demultiplexers comes in multiple variations.

• 1 : 2 demultiplexer
• 1 : 4 demultiplexer
• 1 : 16 demultiplexer
• 1 : 32 demultiplexer

Block diagram

Truth Table
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Decoder
A decoder is a combinational circuit. It has n input and to a maximum m = 2n outputs. Decoder
is identical to a demultiplexer without any data input. It performs operations which are exactly
opposite to those of an encoder.
Block diagram

Examples of Decoders are following.

• Code converters
• BCD to seven segment decoders
• Nixie tube decoders
• Relay actuator

2 to 4 Line Decoder
The block diagram of 2 to 4 line decoder is shown in the fig. A and B are the two inputs where
D through D are the four outputs. Truth table explains the operations of a decoder. It shows
that each output is 1 for only a specific combination of inputs.
Block diagram

Truth Table
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Logic Circuit

Encoder
Encoder is a combinational circuit which is designed to perform the inverse operation of the
decoder. An encoder has n number of input lines and m number of output lines. An encoder
produces an m bit binary code corresponding to the digital input number. The encoder accepts
an n input digital word and converts it into an m bit another digital word.
Block diagram

Examples of Encoders are following.

• Priority encoders
• Decimal to BCD encoder
• Octal to binary encoder
• Hexadecimal to binary encoder

Priority Encoder
This is a special type of encoder. Priority is given to the input lines. If two or more input line
are 1 at the same time, then the input line with highest priority will be considered. There are
four input D0, D1, D2, D3 and two output Y0, Y1. Out of the four input D3 has the highest priority
and D0 has the lowest priority. That means if D3 = 1 then Y1 Y1 = 11 irrespective of the other
inputs. Similarly if D3 = 0 and D2 = 1 then Y1 Y0 = 10 irrespective of the other inputs.
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Block diagram

Truth Table

Logic Circuit
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What is a Combinational Logic Circuit : Types and

Applications
As the scope of digital technology and digital electronic circuits extends to many domains such
as software, healthcare, automation, business and many, electronic representations of Boolean
functions, numerous bands of logic gates are utilized to represent these digital signals. In the
digital logic scenario, the output is completely a function of the current input. In a consequence
of this process, logic gates that are used to represent digital circuits are categorized as sequential
logic circuits and combinational logic circuits. As the implementation of the combinational
logic circuits is in many computer circuits, let’s go ahead with the detailed discussion of how
they operate, and many other conceptions related to this concept.

What is a Combinational Logic Circuit?

A combinational logic circuit as the name itself indicates that it is the combination of various
kinds of logic gates. The combinational circuit goes with the characteristics of:

• At any instant of time, the output is based only on the levels of current input terminals
and not on the past state inputs.
• These circuits do not need any kind of memory states or clock, so the past inputs
show no influence on the current state of the circuit.
• A combinational circuit can intake ‘n’ number of inputs and delivers only one output.

Either the complicated or simple combinational logic, these can be represented through
‘NAND’, ‘NOT’ or ‘NOR gates’.

the basic combinational logic circuit

Representation of Combinational Logic Circuits

Here, we discuss the three approaches of representing combinational logic circuits

• Logic gates – These are the basic building blocks in the development of
combinational logic circuits. NAND, NR, NOT, NOR, OR, AND are all logic gates.
• Boolean algebra – This representation stipulates the association that is between
Boolean variables and is used to design digital circuitry through logic gates. Every
digital system is basically designed with logic gates and so Boolean algebra is the one
foremost approach to represent a combinational logic circuit.
• Truth table – This method computes the operational values of logical expressions for
every combination of values taken by their logical variables. For every single-bit
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output in the logic block, a truth table is necessary to represent the logic. In general,
all the output columns are represented in a single table.

For example, an expression that can be represented in the above three approaches as follows:

representation of combinational logic circuits

Classification of Combinational Logic Circuits

Combinational logic circuits are classified as below

classification of combinational logic circuits

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The foremost implementation of the combinational logic circuit is Multiplexer and de-
multiplexer. In these, many numbers of inputs or outputs are on a single line and the logic gates
are employed to decode corresponding output for the specified input.

Examples of Combinational Logic Circuits

The extensive implementation of combinational logic circuits today allowed us to discuss on a

greater number of examples. Some of the real-life examples are as below:

Half Adder

It is the combinational logic derived by using two inputs and two outputs. The circuit design
allowed us to add two one-bit binary numbers. So, the main purpose of using half adder is for
addition. With the inputs as A and B, the circuit can be designed as follows

half adder block diagram

Truth Table

The output can be derived as below

Inputs Outputs

A B S C

L L L L

L H H L

H L H L

H H L H

Circuit Diagram

To gain the outputs Sum and Carry, the circuit is connected in the below format
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half adder circuit diagram

Full Adder

To surmount the disadvantage that is in half adder circuit, the full adder is designed. It holds
the ability to add two binary numbers along with carrying input. So, it is the circuit with three
inputs and two outputs.

full adder block diagram

Truth Table

The output can be derived as below

Inputs Outputs
A B Cin S C
L L L L L
L L H H L
L H L H L
L H H L H
H L L H L
H L H L H
H H L L H
H H H H H
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Circuit Diagram

To gain the outputs Sum and Carry, the circuit is connected in the below format

full adder circuit diagram

Note: As full adder holds the ability to add two one-bit binary numbers, in many cases we need
to add n-bit numbers along with the carry. In those cases, an n-bit parallel adder holds the
ability to add n-bit binary numbers. It is the combination of many full adders. So, the carry
output of the previous adder is connected as an input to the next adder.

Half Subtractor

Accepting two binary numbers ‘A’ and ‘B’ as inputs, half subtractor derives the outputs borrow
and difference. ‘Difference’ is the difference between two input numbers and while ‘Borrow’
is the one that carries borrow if any. In both the inputs, A is termed as Minuend and B is termed
as Subtrahend.

Truth Table

The output can be derived as below

Inputs Outputs
A B Difference Borrow
L L L L
L H H H
H L H L
H H L L
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Circuit Diagram

To gain the outputs Difference and Borrow, the circuit is connected in the below format

half subtractor circuit diagram

Full Subtractor

To take away the disadvantage of half-subtractor, a full subtractor is designed. The circuit is
designed with three inputs that deliver two outputs one is Difference and Borrow. Where
‘Difference’ is the difference of two inputs and ‘Borrow’ is the carried borrow.

Truth Table

The delivered output from full subtractor is as below

Inputs Outputs
A B Cin A-B-C Borrow
L L L L L
L L H H H
L H L H H
L H H L H
H L L H L
H L H L L
H H L L L
H H H H H
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Circuit Diagram

To gain the outputs Difference and Borrow, the circuit is connected in the below format

full subtractor circuit diagram

Note: Subtraction operation can be performed either by 1’s or 2’s complement of the number
that has to be subtracted. For instance, we can carry out A-B either by the addition of 1’s or 2’s
complement of B to the A input. So, here we make use of binary adder to carry out the
subtraction process.

In detail, the process can be explained as:

• The subtracted number has to be passed through an inverter to get its complement.
• Then the 4-bit adder adds A and the complement of B and delivers subtraction results.
• When A>B and C is 0 and the result of A-B in binary format, then C =1 and the output is in
2’s complement form.
The below circuit diagram clearly explains the flow of the n-bit parallel subtractor.

Multiplexer

A multiplexer is the foremost application of a combinational logic circuit. The circuit has ‘n’
inputs, ‘m’ selection inputs with 2m = n and one output. This is the digital circuitry that chooses
one data input and directs it to output. The selection of the inputs is carried out by selection
inputs. Based on the applied digital code, one of the inputs is selected and addressed to the
output. Cascading operation is performed by ‘E’ input which is the active low terminal input.
The block diagram of the multiplexer is as follows
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multiplexer

Multiplexers are used in many of the applications as because they are in available as

• 2:1 Mux
• 4:1 Mux
• 16:1 Mux
• 32:1 Mux

Let’s be clear with 2:1 Mux

Block Diagram – This is the basic block diagram of how a 2:1 mux operates

2-1 mux in the combinational logic circuit

Truth Table

The output can be derived as below

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Enable Select Output

E S Y
H × L
H 0 D0
H H D1

Demultiplexer

A de-mux performs the operations reverse to that of a multiplexer. It has only one input and
delivers multiple outputs. The circuit is designed with one input, ‘m’ select inputs and ‘n’
outputs. At a single instance, only one output is chosen through selection inputs and it is
directed to the output. Demultiplexers are used in many of the applications as because they are
in available as

• 1: 2 demux
• 1:4 demux
• 1:16 demux
• 1:32 demux

Let’s be clear with 1:2 demux

Block Diagram – This is the basic block diagram of how a 1:2 demux operates

1-2 demux in the combinational logic circuit

Truth Table

The output can be derived as below.

Enable Select Output

E S Y0 Y1
L × L L
H L L Din
H H Din L

Decoders, encoders, priority encoders are all examples of the combinational logic circuits.
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Applications of Combinational Logic Circuit

Combinational logic circuits are the basic building blocks of digital systems. They have an
extensive variety of applications. They are used in

• Digital measuring techniques

• Digital processing
• Industrial processing
• Computers
• Calculators
• Digital Communication

Combinational logic circuits as arithmetic and logic circuits have applications as

• Comparators
• Programmable logic devices
• Adders & Subtractors

Combinational logic circuits as data transmission circuits have applications as

• Parallel to serial convertors

• Data routing
• Serial to parallel converters
• Bit Compression
• ADC and DAC
• Encoders & Decoders

Combinational logic circuits as code converter circuits have applications as

• Binary to gray code conversion

• Gray to Binary conversion
• BCD to Excess-3
• Excess-3 to BCD
• Seven segment code