Talk:Flip-flop (electronics)

Historical Contributions by Claude Shannon?

It appears the RS flip-flop appears on page 30 of Claude Shannon's 1940 Master's Thesis, as what he calls a "lock-in" circuit:

http://mondrian.die.udec.cl/~mmedina/Clases/SistDig/Shannon%20-%20A%20Symbolic%20Analysis%20of%20Relay%20and%20Switching%20Circuits.pdf

CMOS implementation of an edge-triggered D-flip flop

Anyone care to explain how this circuit functions / provide sources ? It comes without any explanations, and hand analysis + simulations don't show it working. Besides it doesn't have any feedback loop, so I fail to see how it could act as a sequential system ? NoahhaoN (talk) 01:37, 18 May 2017 (UTC)

I agree. It looks wrong. It has no feedback so the only way it can save a bit value is by charging a stray capacitor, but I can't see where that would be. A correct CMOS D flip-flop is shown at http://www.learnabout-electronics.org/Digital/dig55.php figure 5.5.2. I think the illustration must be changed and the text should emphasize that it is specific for CMOS technology - it doesn't work with bipolar transistors. Agnerf (talk) 11:42, 21 August 2018 (UTC)

I moved it into the dynamic section. Dicklyon (talk) 23:56, 5 January 2019 (UTC)

Multi-bit Latch vs single-bit flip-flop. Edge-trigger designation.

The term flip-flop is not consistently used to differentiate edge triggered from level triggered devices, but the term flip-flop has always consistently referred to a single bit storage element constructed from logic gates. The term latch has historically been used for multiple bit storage elements that share a trigger. The terms edge triggered and level triggered are clear and unambiguous and should be used to differentiate between the triggering mechanism, rather than trying to use flip-flop for that purpose. "Level triggered flip-flop" can be found in textbooks from the 70's, and changing the terminology makes reading older material misleading. It's clearer to stick with the original designations: Template:Reflist-talk Edge triggered flip-flops

• clearly a single bit
• clearly edge triggered

Level triggered flip-flops

• clearly a single bit
• clearly level triggered

Edge triggered Latches

• clearly edge triggered
• may store multiple bits

Level triggered Latches

• clearly level triggered
• may store multiple bits

Use of this terminology is historically consistent and unambiguous. Also, because multi-bit latches exist, they should have their own page. The internals of storage of each bit should direct to the flip-flop page.

132.160.49.90 (talk) 22:41, 5 January 2019 (UTC)Dr. T.S. U.of H. Jan 2019

I support this suggestion. At least parts of it agree with the 2013 update of the referenced text. Dicklyon (talk) 23:41, 5 January 2019 (UTC)

I agree flip-flop is one bit. I don't think the rest is even vaguely standard. Usually for multi-bit flip-flops the term "register" is used. Hobit (talk) 02:47, 16 September 2021 (UTC)

Q and Q-bar do not switch exactly simultaneously

In latches and flip flops Q and Qbar do not change signal exactly simultaneously. Should this fact be added to the article, together with it's consequences? Jacob.Koot (talk) 11:12, 15 May 2021 (UTC)

Latches vs Flip-flops again

I'd like to clean up this issue. As noted above, the interchangeable use of "latch" and "flip-flop" hasn't been standard for probably decades. If needed we can have a formal RfC, but I thought just see if we can agree to use latch for the transparent/asynchronous devices and flip-flop for the synchronous edge-triggered devices. Objections? Hobit (talk) 02:46, 16 September 2021 (UTC)