Finite State Machines

Chapter 11 - Sequential Circuits

Up to now, every circuit that was presented was a combinatorial circuit. That means
that its output is dependent only by its current inputs. Previous inputs for that type of
circuits have no effect on the output.
However, there are many applications where there is a need for our circuits to have
“memory”; to remember previous inputs and calculate their outputs according to them.
A circuit whose output depends not only on the present input but also on the history of
the input is called a sequential circuit.
In this section we will learn how to design and build such sequential circuits. In order
to see how this procedure works, we will use an example, on which we will study our
topic.
So let’s suppose we have a digital quiz game that works on a clock and reads an
input from a manual button. However, we want the switch to transmit only one HIGH
pulse to the circuit. If we hook the button directly on the game circuit it will transmit
HIGH for as few clock cycles as our finger can achieve. On a common clock
frequency our finger can never be fast enough.
The design procedure has specific steps that must be followed in order to get the
work done:
Step 1
The first step of the design procedure is to define with simple but clear words what we
want our circuit to do:
“Our mission is to design a secondary circuit that will transmit a HIGH pulse with
duration of only one cycle when the manual button is pressed, and won’t transmit
another pulse until the button is depressed and pressed again.” Step 2
The next step is to design a State Diagram. This is a diagram that is made from
circles and arrows and describes visually the operation of our circuit. In mathematic
terms, this diagram that describes the operation of our sequential circuit is a Finite
State Machine.
Make a note that this is a Moore Finite State Machine. Its output is a function of only
its current state, not its input. That is in contrast with the Mealy Finite State Machine,
where input affects the output. In this tutorial, only the Moore Finite State Machine will
be examined.
The State Diagram of our circuit is the following: (Figure below)
Every circle represents a “state”, a well-defined condition that our machine can be
found at.
In the upper half of the circle we describe that condition. The description helps us
remember what our circuit is supposed to do at that condition.

 The first circle is the “stand-by” condition. This is where our circuit starts from and
where it waits for another button press.
 The second circle is the condition where the button has just been just pressed
and our circuit needs to transmit a HIGH pulse.
 The third circle is the condition where our circuit waits for the button to be
released before it returns to the “stand-by” condition.

In the lower part of the circle is the output of our circuit. If we want our circuit to
transmit a HIGH on a specific state, we put a 1 on that state. Otherwise we put a 0.
Every arrow represents a “transition” from one state to another. A transition happens
once every clock cycle. Depending on the current Input, we may go to a different state
each time. Notice the number in the middle of every arrow. This is the current Input.
For example, when we are in the “Initial-Stand by” state and we “read” a 1, the
diagram tells us that we have to go to the “Activate Pulse” state. If we read a 0 we
must stay on the “Initial-Stand by” state.
So, what does our “Machine” do exactly? It starts from the “Initial - Stand by” state
and waits until a 1 is read at the Input. Then it goes to the “Activate Pulse” state and
transmits a HIGH pulse on its output. If the button keeps being pressed, the circuit
goes to the third state, the “Wait Loop”. There it waits until the button is released
(Input goes 0) while transmitting a LOW on the output. Then it’s all over again!
This is possibly the most difficult part of the design procedure, because it cannot be
described by simple steps. It takes exprerience and a bit of sharp thinking in order to
set up a State Diagram, but the rest is just a set of predetermined steps.
Step 3
Next, we replace the words that describe the different states of the diagram
with binary numbers. We start the enumeration from 0 which is assigned on the initial
state. We then continue the enumeration with any state we like, until all states have
their number. The result looks something like this: (Figure below)

Step 4
Afterwards, we fill the State Table. This table has a very specific form. I will give the
table of our example and use it to explain how to fill it in. (Figure below)
 A State Table

The first columns are as many as the bits of the highest number we assigned the
State Diagram. If we had 5 states, we would have used up to the number 100, which
means we would use 3 columns. For our example, we used up to the number 10, so
only 2 columns will be needed. These columns describe the Current Stateof our
circuit.
To the right of the Current State columns we write the Input Columns. These will be
as many as our Input variables. Our example has only one Input.
Next, we write the Next State Columns. These are as many as the Current State
columns.
Finally, we write the Outputs Columns. These are as many as our outputs. Our
example has only one output. Since we have built a More Finite State Machine, the
output is dependent on only the current input states. This is the reason the outputs
column has two 1: to result in an output Boolean function that is independant of input
I. Keep on reading for further details.
The Current State and Input columns are the Inputs of our table. We fill them in with
all the binary numbers from 0 to

It is simpler than it sounds fortunately. Usually there will be more rows than the actual
States we have created in the State Diagram, but that’s ok.
Each row of the Next State columns is filled as follows: We fill it in with the state that
we reach when, in the State Diagram, from the Current State of the same row we
follow the Input of the same row. If have to fill in a row whose Current State number
doesn’t correspond to any actual State in the State Diagram we fill it with Don’t Care
terms (X). After all, we don’t care where we can go from a State that doesn’t exist. We
wouldn’t be there in the first place! Again it is simpler than it sounds.
The outputs column is filled by the output of the corresponding Current State in the
State Diagram.
The State Table is complete! It describes the behaviour of our circuit as fully as the
State Diagram does.
Step 5a
The next step is to take that theoretical “Machine” and implement it in a circuit. Most
often than not, this implementation involves Flip Flops. This guide is dedicated to this
kind of implementation and will describe the procedure for both D - Flip Flops as well
as JK - Flip Flops. T - Flip Flops will not be included as they are too similar to the two
previous cases. The selection of the Flip Flop to use is arbitrary and usually is
determined by cost factors. The best choice is to perform both analysis and decide
which type of Flip Flop results in minimum number of logic gates and lesser cost.
First we will examine how we implement our “Machine” with D-Flip Flops.
We will need as many D - Flip Flops as the State columns, 2 in our example. For
every Flip Flop we will add one more column in our State table (Figure below) with the
name of the Flip Flop’s input, “D” for this case. The column that corresponds to each
Flip Flop describes what input we must give the Flip Flop in order to go from the
Current State to the Next State. For the D - Flip Flop this is easy: The necessary
input is equal to the Next State. In the rows that contain X’s we fill X’s in this column
as well.

A State Table with D - Flip Flop Excitations

Step 5b
We can do the same steps with JK - Flip Flops. There are some differences however.
A JK - Flip Flop has two inputs, therefore we need to add two columns for each Flip
Flop. The content of each cell is dictated by the JK’s excitation table:
(Figure below) JK - Flip Flop Excitation Table :
This table says that if we want to go from State Q to State Qnext, we need to use the
specific input for each terminal. For example, to go from 0 to 1, we need to feed J with
1 and we don’t care which input we feed to terminal K.

A State Table with JK - Flip Flop Excitations

Step 6
We are in the final stage of our procedure. What remains, is to determine the Boolean
functions that produce the inputs of our Flip Flops and the Output. We will extract one
Boolean funtion for each Flip Flop input we have. This can be done with a Karnaugh
Map. The input variables of this map are the Current State variables as well as the
Inputs.
That said, the input functions for our D - Flip Flops are the following: (Figure below)

Karnaugh Maps for the D - Flip Flop Inputs

If we chose to use JK - Flip Flops our functions would be the following: (Figure below)

Karnaugh Map for the JK - Flip Flop Input

A Karnaugh Map will be used to determine the function of the Output as well:
(Figure below)
 Karnaugh Map for the Output variable Y

Step 7
We design our circuit. We place the Flip Flops and use logic gates to form the
Boolean functions that we calculated. The gates take input from the output of the Flip
Flops and the Input of the circuit. Don’t forget to connect the clock to the Flip Flops!
The D - Flip Flop version: (Figure below)

The completed D - Flip Flop Sequential Circuit

The JK - Flip Flop version: (Figure below)

 The completed JK - Flip Flop Sequential Circuit

This is it! We have successfully designed and constructed a Sequential Circuit. At first
it might seem a daunting task, but after practice and repetition the procedure will
become trivial. Sequential Circuits can come in handy as control parts of bigger
circuits and can perform any sequential logic task that we can think of. The sky is the
limit! (or the circuit board, at least)

REVIEW:

 A Sequential Logic function has a “memory” feature and takes into account past
inputs in order to decide on the output.
 The Finite State Machine is an abstract mathematical model of a sequential logic
function. It has finite inputs, outputs and number of states.
 FSMs are implemented in real-life circuits through the use of Flip Flops
 The implementation procedure needs a specific order of steps (algorithm), in
order to be carried out.

Complementary Static CMOS Design

Introduction - Complementary Static CMOS design offers low noise sensitivity,

speed and low power consumption. Static CMOS design means that at any time, the
output of the gate is directly connected to VSS or VDD. In comparison, Dynamic
CMOS gates depend upon the device capacitance to temporarily hold charge at the
output.

Properties of Complementary Static CMOS

1) Contains a pull up network (PUP) and pull down network (PDN)

2) PUP networks consist of PMOS transistors
3) PDN networks consist of NMOS transistors
4) Each network is the dual of the other network
5) The output of the complementary gate is inverted.

Figure 1: Pull up and Pull down networks

PDN Design - Any function is first designed by the Pull Down network. The
Pull Up network can be designed by simply taking the dual of the Pull Down
network, once it is found. Note: An NMOS gate will pass current between
source and drain when 5 volts is presented at the gate.

1) All functions are composed of either and'ed or or'ed subfunctions.

2) The And function is composed of NMOS transistors in series.
3) The Or function is composed of NMOS transistors in parallel.

Complementary Static CMOS Example (Figure 2):

F = ((A+B) C) + D

Figure 2: Static CMOS Example

Example 6.1 Two input NAND Gate Figure 6.5 shows a two-input NAND gate (F = A·B). The
PDN network consists of two NMOS devices in series that conduct when both A and B are
high. The PUN is the dual network, and consists of two parallel PMOS transistors. This means
that F is 1 if A = 0 or B = 0, which is equivalent to F = A·B. The truth table for the simple two
input NAND gate is given in Table 6.1. It can be verified that the output F is always connected
to either VDD or GND, but never to both at the same time.
Example 6.2 Synthesis of complex CMOS Gate Using complementary CMOS logic, consider
the synthesis of a complex CMOS gate whose function is F = D + A· (B +C). The first step in
the synthesis of the logic gate is to derive the pull-down network as shown in Figure 6.6a by
using the fact that NMOS devices in series implements the AND function and parallel device
implements the OR function. The next step is to use duality to derive the PUN in a hierarchical
fashion. The PDN network is broken into smaller networks (i.e., subset of the PDN) called
sub-nets that simplify the derivation of the PUN. In Figure 6.6b, the subnets (SN) for the pull-
down network are identified At the top level, SN1 and SN2 are in parallel so in the dual
network, they will be in series. Since SN1
Static Properties of Complementary CMOS Gates Complementary CMOS gates inherit all the
nice properties of the basic CMOS inverter, discussed earlier. They exhibit rail to rail swing
with VOH = VDD and VOL = GND. The circuits also have no static power dissipation, since
the circuits are designed such that the pull-down and pull-up networks are mutually exclusive.
The analysis of the DC voltage transfer characteristics and the noise margins is more
complicated then for the inverter, as these parameters depend upon the data input patterns
applied to gate.
Consider the static two-input NAND gate shown in Figure 6.7. Three possible input
combinations switch the output of the gate from high-to-low: (a) A = B = 0 ® 1, (b) A= 1,

consists of a single transistor, it maps directly to the pull-up network. On the other hand, we
need to recursively apply the duality rules to SN2. Inside SN2, we have SN3 and SN4 in series
so in the PUN they will appear in parallel. Finally, inside SN3, the devices are in parallel so
they will appear in series in the PUN. The complete gate is shown in Figure 6.6c. The reader
can verify that for every possible input cobmination, there always exists a path to either VDD
or GND.