Logic Gates

What is a Logic Gate?

A logic gate is an electronic circuit that performs logical operations based on
the inputs provided to it and produces a logical output that can be either
"true" or "false".

Logic gates are the primary building blocks of all digital circuits and systems.
The operation of logic gates is based on the Boolean mathematics.

Types of Logic Gates

Logic gates can be broadly classified into the following three categories −

 Basic Logic Gates − AND Gate, OR Gate, NOT Gate

 Universal Logic Gates − NAND Gate and NOR Gate
 Derived Logic Gates − XOR Gate and XNOR Gate

All these gates are combined together to implement complex practical digital
systems to perform various computational and logical operations.

Advantages of logic gates

Some of the major advantages of logic gates are given below −

 Logic gates can process digital signals which are essential component
in modern computing systems.

 Logic gates can perform logical or Boolean operations efficiently.

 Being digital circuits, logic gates are highly immune to noise and
electromagnetic interference. Hence, they are more reliable.

 Multiple logic gates can be combined to obtain higher order logic gates
and design complex digital systems

 Logic gates are versatile in terms of logical operations, as they can

perform a variety of operations when configured in different ways.

 Logic gates have high operating speed.

 Logic gates consume lower amount of electric power. Hence, they

result in higher energy efficiency.
  Logic gates can be integrated in the form ICs. This feature enables
engineers to design compact and efficient electronic devices.

What is an AND Gate?

An AND gate is a type of basic logic gate used in various digital circuits and
systems. It produces a high or logic 1 or True output, only when all its inputs
are high or logic 1 or true. For all other combinations of inputs, it produces a
low or logic 0 or False output.

The logic symbols for the two and three input AND gates are depicted in the
following figure.

Here, A, B, and C are the input variables and Y is the output variable.

In this chapter, we will cover AND gates having three inputs only. But we can
design an AND gate for any number of input variables.

The Boolean expression of a two-input AND gate is given by,

Y=A·B

Truth Table of AND Gate

The truth table of an AND gate contains inputs and outputs, and specifies the
relationship between them.The truth table of a two-input AND gate is given
below −

Input Output

A B Y

0 0 0

0 1 0

1 0 0
 1 1 1

What is an OR Gate?
An OR gate is a type of logic gate used to perform logical addition. It can
have two or more inputs and one output.

The output of the OR gate is low or logic 0 only when all its inputs are low or
logic 0. For rest input combinations, the output of the OR gate is high or logic
1.

The logic symbols for a two-input and a three-input OR gate are shown in the
following figure.

Here, A, B, and C are the input lines and Y is the output line.

Truth Table of OR Gate

The truth table is a table that shows the relationship between different input
combinations and output.

The following is the truth table for a two-input OR gate −

Input Output

A B Y

0 0 0

0 1 1

1 0 1
 1 1 1

The Boolean expression of a two-input OR gate is given below −

Y=A+B

What is a NOT Gate?

The NOT gate is a type of basic logic gate used in digital electronics to
implement the inversion function. Since it performs the inversion operation, it
is also known as inverter.

It has only one input line and one output line. The output of the NOT gate is
high or logic 1 when its input is low or logic 0. The output of the NOT gate is
low or logic 0 when its input is high or logic 1.

The logic symbol of the NOT gate is shown in the following figure −

Here, A is the input line and Y is the output line of the NOT gate.

Truth Table of NOT Gate

The truth table of NOT gate is a table of input and output that represent the
relationship between them. Here is the truth table of the NOT gate −

Input (A) Output (Y)

0 1

1 0
From this truth table, we can observe that the NOT gate inverts the input
applied to it.

The Boolean expression of the NOT gate is given below −

Y=A¯=A′

Universal gates
A logic gate that can implement any kind of possible Boolean function is
called a universal gate. There are two universal logic gates namely, NAND
gate and NOR gate.

What is a NAND Gate?

The NAND gate is a universal gate that basically a combination of two basic
logic gates namely, AND gate and NOT gate. It is designed by connecting a
NOT gate to the output line of the AND gate, as shown in the following figure.

The NAND gate can have two or more input lines and one output line. The
output of the NAND gate is low or logic 0 only when all its inputs are high or
logic 1. Otherwise, the output of the NAND gate is high or logic 1.

The NAND gate is basically a logic gate that performs the inverse operation of
an AND gate.

Being a universal gate, the NAND gate can implement any possible Boolean
function or operation of any other type of logic gate.

Truth Table of NAND Gate

Truth table is a table of inputs and outputs of a NAND gate showing the
relationship between them. Here is the truth table of a two-input NAND
gate –
What is a NOR Gate?
The NOR gate is another universal gate used in digital electronics to
implement Boolean functions. It is a combination of two basic logic gates
namely, OR gate and NOT gate. The NOR gate is designed by connecting a
NOT gate to the output line and the final output is taken from the output line
of the NOT gate as shown in the following figure.

Being a universal logic gate, it can be used to implement any possible

Boolean function or the other logic gates single-handedly.

The NOR gate can have two or more input lines and one output line. The
output of the NOR gate is high or logic 1 only when all its inputs are low or
logic 0. For all other input combinations, the output of the NOR gate is low or
logic 0.
Applications of NOR Gate
The NOR gate is used in numerous digital systems. Some common
applications of NOR gate are listed below −

 Various digital systems

 Industrial automation and control systems
 Traffic control systems
 Alarm circuits
 Digital arithmetic circuits like adders and subtractors, etc.

What is an XOR Gate?

The XOR gate is a type of logic gate in digital electronics which has two
inputs and one output. The output of the XOR gate is high or logic 1, only
when both the inputs are different. For the same inputs, the output of the
XOR gate is low or logic 0.

Logic Symbol of XOR Gate

The logic symbol of an XOR gate is shown in the following figure.
It has only two inputs designated as A and B and one output denoted by Y.