How Many Types of Flip Flops are There

Introduction

There are 4 types of flip flops. Computers are an important part of our day-to-day lives now. Digital technology has advanced at such a fast pace in the recent 2 decades that we hold a computer in our hands. Digital technology would not have been possible without the invention of integrated circuits and electronic systems. To know how these machines can do complex thinking, we need to understand the workings of Logic Gates and Flip flops. Let us learn about the integral working of these amazing machines.

Logic Gates and Flip Flops - An Explanation

Logic gates are the building blocks of the digital structure. They are constructed using diodes or transistors which comprise semiconductors. They are built to carry out basic logical operations. They take in two inputs to give one output. They are generally used in microprocessors and embedded systems integral to an electronic system. AND, OR, NOR, NOT, NAND and XOR are the common types of logic gates.

Flip flops are circuits which are created using logic gates like NAND and NOR gates. However, flip flops or FF are circuits whose outputs don't just depend on current inputs, but on previous inputs and outputs. Each FF is made up of two inputs and two outputs. The two inputs are called set and reset, whereas the outputs are known as Q and Q’.

Types of Flip-Flops

There are a total of 4 types of flip-flops. They are named as follows

1. S-R flip flop

2. J-K flip flop

3. T flip flop

4. D flip flop

• S-R Flip Flop

The S-R flip flop is constructed as follows

Truth table of the S-R flip flop looks as follows:

“-” is known as the don’t care situation.

• J-K Flip Flop

The construction of the J-K flip flop looks as follows:

The truth table of the J-K flip flop look as follows

• T Flip-Flop

T flip-flop can be constructed as follows:

Truth table of the T flip-flop looks as follows

• D flip-Flop

The D flip-flop can be constructed as follows:

The truth table of D flip-flop looks as follows

Application of Flip Flops

Having understood the basics of flip flops, let us look at some of their applications

• Registers

• Latch

• Data storage

• Shift Registers

• Data Transfer

• Counters

• Frequency Dividers

Conclusion

Flip flops are an important part of creating electronics. Using logic gates as the basic building blocks, we have been able to develop a circuit which is capable of implementing some very complicated operations.