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3 input XOR in 4T 2R

A project log for The Blinking Computer

An educational 16-bit CPU made from < 1024 transistors with lots of LEDs that anyone can build and learn from

tony-robinsonTony Robinson 02/16/2019 at 10:5010 Comments

This log is redundant - there is a complete Full Adder which uses this circuit at  https://hackaday.io/project/160177-alu-in-dctl-technology/log/150451-full-adder and that work predates this and is more complete.

But, for the sake of not deleting valuable comments below, here it is (for now).

Addition can be decomposed into a carry chain (see past and future logs) and a three input exclusive OR operation which takes the two external inputs and the carry and produces the result.

https://hackaday.io/project/8449-hackaday-ttlers/log/150147-bipolar-xor-gate-with-only-2-transistors is the place to start for all things XOR.   I'm just cascading two XOR in the same way as https://hackaday.io/project/160177-alu-in-dctl-technology/log/150451-full-adder and tweaking a few things.

The left hand side a typical BJT set up, some current sets a bipolar transistor to conduct or not, in which case either A is near ground or is wired to the +ve supply via a resistor.   I've put it in to show that this is the input we need and also because it was what was needed to help me understand what is going on.

The output has the same characteristics as the left hand side, it's either to ground via a couple of BJT or to +VE via the resistor.   I used 330 Ohm resistors, these being slightly faster than 10k.   The BJTs are 2N3904s.    Currently I'm getting just over 500 kHz, which is good enough.

Discussions

roelh wrote 02/16/2019 at 18:32 point

This 3-input XOR is exactly the same as formed by transistor T5, T6 and T10, T11 in my article https://hackaday.io/project/160177-alu-in-dctl-technology/log/150451-full-adder !

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Tony Robinson wrote 02/16/2019 at 18:54 point

It is indeed!   Sorry not to have credited you, I got busy in 2018 and missed your article.   I'm not sure what the best thing to do is, I'll either edit to give you credit or perhaps just pull the lot as it's not adding anything new.    Probably the latter.

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roelh wrote 02/16/2019 at 19:56 point

No problem Tony,  just leave the article as it is. I'm sure I'm not the first one to have thought of this. 

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Yann Guidon / YGDES wrote 02/16/2019 at 16:32 point

The cascadable Full Adder is ok for a few bits, other faster structures become necessary when the width increases.

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Tony Robinson wrote 02/16/2019 at 19:01 point

Well I do have a diode carry chain.   Wikipedia says that Schottky diodes have "very fast switching action", I've yet to get it working though.   Keeping the component count low is vitally important to me, it's a 16 bit adder so complex look ahead circuitry would dominate the whole computer and I'll never build it.

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Yann Guidon / YGDES wrote 02/17/2019 at 00:01 point

If done correctly, a 16-bits adder is not /that/ large. It's just a matter of finding the right macro-structure and replicate it :-)

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matseng wrote 02/16/2019 at 12:33 point

Spice says about 5us with 10K and 2n3904 at 5 volts.... Resulting in a nice 01101001 sequence at the output  for a binary count from 000 to 111 at points A,B and C.

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Yann Guidon / YGDES wrote 02/16/2019 at 16:31 point

The resistors can easily be decreased to 1K or 470 for a bit more quickness :-D

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Tony Robinson wrote 02/16/2019 at 18:56 point

I'm pleased to see it running at slightly under 400 kHz (I'm running on 3.3V, which means less charge stored on the BJT).   I shall tweak resistors and see how it goes.

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Yann Guidon / YGDES wrote 02/17/2019 at 00:02 point

Awesome !

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