![]() Today, we’re in the age of very large-scale integrated (VLSI) ICs, which can pack in millions and even billions of transistors into one tiny package. ![]() The production of ICs continued to advance though, soon cramming in 4,800 transistors in the first microprocessor in 1974 made by Intel. The earliest ICs were referred to as small-scale integrated (SSI) ICs. These ICs started off simple, cramming in about 20 transistors in a 3 mm square chip of silicon with other components like resistors and diodes. In the 1960s, we started to put together a collection of transistors together that led to the creation of the first integrated circuit, ushering in our age of modern computers. They worked as a switch to control the flow of electricity based on some input voltage. Despite their difference in size and shape, the function of relays, vacuum tubes, and transistors were all the same. They were reliable, didn’t consume nearly as much power as vacuum tubes and relays, and were incredibly small in size. And while these vacuum tubes were a lot faster than their relay counterparts, they were just as bulky and unreliable, which led us to the creation of the transistor in 1947. What started as mechanical relay switches consisting of an electromagnetic and a set of contacts soon evolved into vacuum tubes for use in televisions, light bulbs, and more in the 1900s. Logic gates have been around for longer than you’ve been alive, in varying forms of computer technologies. But are logic gates really anything new? The concepts are older than you think Vacuum Tubes But at the end of the day, we’re still working with a fundamental question: do we want to allow a particular logic gate to allow an electric current to pass through, or not? While this might seem simplistic at an individual level, chaining all of this logic and decision-making together is how we’ve gone to create some amazing digital electronics in such a short period of history. This output is entirely determined by the type of logic gate you’re using, and some will only open if you have two high voltages as an input, whereas others will only open if you have a low voltage but not a high voltage as an input.īy using a combination of both high and low voltages and sending them through a logic gate’s input, we can make some amazing things happen. ![]() Outputs : Once a logic gate has a chance to process your input, it can then make a decision on whether to open its gate or keep it closed.And when you have a voltage of 5V as an input, then this is deemed to be high, or 1. When your input voltage is 0V, then it’s considered to be low, or 0. These figures come in the form of voltages. Inputs : All logic gates require some kind of input value so that they have numbers to compare.In a physical circuit, these logic gates have: When you string a bunch of these transistors together, then you get what’s called a logic gate, which lets you add, subtract, multiply, and divide binary numbers in any way imaginable. And when it’s off, then no current flows. When a transistor is on, or open, then an electric current can flow through. This gate in the world of digital electronics is known as a transistor and can be in one of two states, on or off, or open or closed if you like to think of it as a gate. In a computer, we can also use a gate to control a flow and achieve an end goal, but instead of chickens, we control the flow of an electric current as it goes running around a circuit. This gate is your method of controlling the flow of chickens into and out of your farm and helps you to meet your goals of having happy and healthy creatures that continue laying eggs for years on end. Each morning you wake up, open the gate to your farm, and let your chickens loose out in your pasture. Let’s say you’re living out on a farm, and you’ve got a bunch of chickens to tend to on a nice plot of land. To get from 1s and 0s to the latest advances in medicine, space exploration, and science, you’ve got to start with logic gates. Our ability to add, subtract, multiply, and divide binary numbers in a variety of ways is what has allowed us to create the world of digital electronics that we know today. No, what makes all of this possible is our ability to slice and dice binary numbers in all of their infinite possibilities through some heavy-hitting mathematics. The binary world of 1s and 0s alone doesn’t allow us to re-land rockets in the middle of the ocean, deliver packages within minutes through the use of drones, or map the known physical universe and all of its wonders. ![]() Understanding logic gates: the hidden world of digital electronics Ever wonder what’s going on behind the scenes of our most amazing electronic inventions? Learn about the hidden world of digital electronics and logic gates.
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