The
4000 series is a family of industry standard integrated circuits which implement a variety of
logicA logic gate is an idealized or physical device implementing a Boolean function, that is, it performs a logical operation on one or more logic inputs and produces a single logic output. Depending on the context, the term may refer to an ideal logic gate, one that has for instance zero rise time and...
functions using
Complementary Metal–Oxide–SemiconductorComplementary metal–oxide–semiconductor is a technology for constructing integrated circuits. CMOS technology is used in microprocessors, microcontrollers, static RAM, and other digital logic circuits...
technology, and are still in use today. They were introduced by
RCARCA Corporation, founded as the Radio Corporation of America, was an American electronics company in existence from 1919 to 1986. The RCA trademark is currently owned by the French conglomerate Technicolor SA through RCA Trademark Management S.A., a company owned by Technicolor...
as
CD4000 COS/MOS series in 1968, as a lower power and more versatile alternative to the
7400 seriesThe 7400 series of transistor-transistor logic integrated circuits are historically important as the first widespread family of TTL integrated circuit logic. It was used to build the mini and mainframe computers of the 1960s and 1970s...
of
TTLTransistor–transistor logic is a class of digital circuits built from bipolar junction transistors and resistors. It is called transistor–transistor logic because both the logic gating function and the amplifying function are performed by transistors .TTL is notable for being a widespread...
logic chips. Almost all IC manufacturers active during the era fabricated chips from this series. RCA sometimes advertised the line as COSMOS, standing for COmplementary Symmetry Metal-Oxide Semiconductor. The naming system followed the RCA convention of CA for analog, CD for digital, but did not relate to the
Texas InstrumentsTexas Instruments Inc. , widely known as TI, is an American company based in Dallas, Texas, United States, which develops and commercializes semiconductor and computer technology...
SN
7400 seriesThe 7400 series of transistor-transistor logic integrated circuits are historically important as the first widespread family of TTL integrated circuit logic. It was used to build the mini and mainframe computers of the 1960s and 1970s...
numbering scheme.
4000 series parts had the advantage of lower
powerElectric power is the rate at which electric energy is transferred by an electric circuit. The SI unit of power is the watt.-Circuits:Electric power, like mechanical power, is represented by the letter P in electrical equations...
consumption, wider range of supply
voltageVoltage, otherwise known as electrical potential difference or electric tension is the difference in electric potential between two points — or the difference in electric potential energy per unit charge between two points...
s (3 V to 15 V), and simpler
circuitAn electronic circuit is composed of individual electronic components, such as resistors, transistors, capacitors, inductors and diodes, connected by conductive wires or traces through which electric current can flow...
design due to the vastly increased
fanoutIn digital electronics, the fan-out of a logic gate output is the number of gate inputs to which it is connected.In most designs, logic gates are connected together to form more complex circuits. While no more than one logic gate output is connected to any single input, it is common for one output...
. However their slower speed (initially about 1 MHz operation, compared with bipolar TTL's 10 MHz) limited their applications to static or slow speed designs. Later, new fabrication technology largely overcame the speed problems, while retaining backward compatibility with most circuit designs. Although all semiconductors can be damaged by
electrostatic dischargeElectrostatic discharge is a serious issue in solid state electronics, such as integrated circuits. Integrated circuits are made from semiconductor materials such as silicon and insulating materials such as silicon dioxide...
, the high
impedanceElectrical impedance, or simply impedance, is the measure of the opposition that an electrical circuit presents to the passage of a current when a voltage is applied. In quantitative terms, it is the complex ratio of the voltage to the current in an alternating current circuit...
of CMOS inputs makes them more susceptible than
bipolar transistor-based|- align = "center"| || PNP|- align = "center"| || NPNA bipolar transistor is a three-terminal electronic device constructed of doped semiconductor material and may be used in amplifying or switching applications. Bipolar transistors are so named because their operation involves both electrons...
, TTL, devices. Eventually, the advantages of CMOS (especially the later series such as 74HC) edged out the older TTL chips, but at the same time ever increasing LSI techniques edged out the modular chip approach to design. The 4000 series is still widely available, but perhaps less important than it was two decades ago.
The series was extended in the late 1970s and 1980s to include new types which implemented new functions, or were better versions of existing chips in the 4000 series. Most of these newer chips were given 45xx and 45xxx designations, but are usually still regarded by engineers as part of the 4000 series.
In the 1990s, some manufacturers (e.g.
Texas InstrumentsTexas Instruments Inc. , widely known as TI, is an American company based in Dallas, Texas, United States, which develops and commercializes semiconductor and computer technology...
) ported the 4000 series to their newer
HCMOSHCMOS, high-speed CMOS, is the set of specifications for electrical ratings and characteristics, forming the 74HC00 family, a part of the 7400 series of integrated circuits....
technology with devices such as the 74HCT4060 providing equivalent functionality to a 4060 IC but with greater speed.
The 4000 series integrated circuits have been used in space satellites for many decades.
Design considerations
The original 4000 series was available in either unbuffered or
bufferedA buffer amplifier is one that provides electrical impedance transformation from one circuit to another...
inputs and outputs. The buffered outputs can source or sink more current than the unbuffered outputs, eliminating the need for discrete switching transistors in some designs. The buffered versions also have faster output switching times, as the
signal riseIn electronics, the slew rate represents the maximum rate of change of a signal at any point in a circuit.Limitations in slew rate capability can give rise to non linear effects in electronic amplifiers...
time of the buffered output stage is faster than that of an unbuffered device. However the overall
propagation delayPropagation delay is a technical term that can have a different meaning depending on the context. It can relate to networking, electronics or physics...
through the buffered versions is higher due to the additional circuitry. The buffered devices are more susceptible to output
oscillationOscillation is the repetitive variation, typically in time, of some measure about a central value or between two or more different states. Familiar examples include a swinging pendulum and AC power. The term vibration is sometimes used more narrowly to mean a mechanical oscillation but sometimes...
with slow-changing inputs. Designers must evaluate the choice of buffered or unbuffered parts according to the nature of the circuit in which the devices are being used. The additional input and output gates on the buffered parts also make them marginally less susceptible to damage by
electrostatic dischargeElectrostatic discharge is a serious issue in solid state electronics, such as integrated circuits. Integrated circuits are made from semiconductor materials such as silicon and insulating materials such as silicon dioxide...
(ESD).
Although the original designation for unbuffered and buffered parts was the addition of an 'A' or 'B' suffix to the part code (e.g.: 4000A = unbuffered, 4000B = buffered), some manufacturers (e.g.: Texas Instruments) later changed to using UB (unbuffered) and B (buffered) suffixes (e.g.: 4000UB and 4000B).
The diagrams below show the construction differences between a simple buffered and unbuffered CMOS
NORThe NOR gate is a digital logic gate that implements logical NOR - it behaves according to the truth table to the right. A HIGH output results if both the inputs to the gate are LOW . If one or both input is HIGH , a LOW output results. NOR is the result of the negation of the OR operator...
logic gate. Note that the logic gate at the core of the buffered part is actually a
NAND gateThe Negated AND, NO AND or NAND gate is the opposite of the digital AND gate, and behaves in a manner that corresponds to the opposite of AND gate, as shown in the truth table on the right. A LOW output results only if both the inputs to the gate are HIGH...
, but the overall function of the complete circuit is a NOR gate due to the logic inversions performed by the buffers. (A negated NAND with negated inputs becomes a NOR as defined by
De Morgan's laws in
Boolean AlgebraBoolean algebra is a logical calculus of truth values, developed by George Boole in the 1840s. It resembles the algebra of real numbers, but with the numeric operations of multiplication xy, addition x + y, and negation −x replaced by the respective logical operations of...
.) The clamping
diodeIn electronics, a diode is a type of two-terminal electronic component with a nonlinear current–voltage characteristic. A semiconductor diode, the most common type today, is a crystalline piece of semiconductor material connected to two electrical terminals...
s on the inputs are to offer some protection against ESD.
The 4000 series permits the use of "cookbook" design, where standard circuit elements can be created, shared, and connected to other circuits with few, if any, connection difficulties. This greatly speeds the design of new hardware by reusing standard approaches to circuit design. In contrast, TTL circuits, while similarly modular, often require much more careful interfacing, since the limited
fanoutIn digital electronics, the fan-out of a logic gate output is the number of gate inputs to which it is connected.In most designs, logic gates are connected together to form more complex circuits. While no more than one logic gate output is connected to any single input, it is common for one output...
(and
fan-inFan-in is the number of inputs of an electronic logic gate. For instance the fan-in for the AND gate shown below is 3. Physical logic gates with a large fan-in tend to be slower than those with a small fan-in, because the complexity of the input circuitry increases the input capacitance of the...
) require that the loading of each output be carefully considered. (Some later TTL families, like 74LS reduce this problem with fanouts of 20.) It is also much easier to prototype LSI designs using the 4000 series and get repeatable and transferable results when moving to the more integrated design.
Some care needs to be taken with the design of circuits using CMOS chips. Many parts offer multiple logic gates in a single package and it is common to not need all of them. An engineer who forgets to 'tie off' (connect the unused gate inputs to VSS or VDD) may find the chip draws excessive current. The problem is caused by
biasingBiasing in electronics is the method of establishing predetermined voltages and/or currents at various points of an electronic circuit to set an appropriate operating point...
in each gate. With the inputs disconnected, the gates may be biased into a mode where the outputs are partially conducting; this leaves the output buffer drawing a great deal of current since it is not fully on or off, creating a low resistance current path between the power supply rails.
Example common 4000 series chips
- 4000 - Dual 3-Input NOR Gate and Inverter
- 4001 - Quad 2-Input NOR Gate
- 4002 - Dual 4-Input NOR Gate OR Gate
In logic and mathematics, a two-place logical connective or, is a logical disjunction, also known as inclusive disjunction or alternation, that results in true whenever one or more of its operands are true. E.g. in this context, "A or B" is true if A is true, or if B is true, or if both A and B are...
- 4008 - 4-Bit Full Adder
In electronics, an adder or summer is a digital circuit that performs addition of numbers.In many computers and other kinds of processors, adders are used not only in the arithmetic logic unit, but also in other parts of the processor, where they are used to calculate addresses, table indices, and...
- 4010 - hex non-inverting buffer
- 4011 - Quad 2-Input NAND Gate
- 4017 - Decade Counter / Johnson Counter
- 4511 - BCD
BCD may refer to:* Binary coded decimal, representation of individual decimal digits in binary.* Bad Conduct Discharge, a form of discharge from US military service* Barrels per calendar day, a unit for measuring output of oil refineries...
to 7-segment LED driver
Notable parts
A few parts are notable in the 4000 series because of their level of integration compared to other chips. This list is intentionally incomplete and is meant to provide a sample of the more interesting parts in the series. Devices useful for switching analog signals (such as the 4066, and 4051 to 4053) have continued to enjoy popularity in some audio designs (although non-4000 series chips, often with less distortion, are now available).
4017 decade counter
The
4017 IC is a 16-pin
CMOSComplementary metal–oxide–semiconductor is a technology for constructing integrated circuits. CMOS technology is used in microprocessors, microcontrollers, static RAM, and other digital logic circuits...
decade
counterIn digital logic and computing, a counter is a device which stores the number of times a particular event or process has occurred, often in relationship to a clock signal.- Electronic counters :...
from the 4000 series. It takes clock pulses from the clock input, and makes one of the ten outputs come on in sequence each time a clock pulse arrives.
Pinout
Pin number | Name | Purpose |
1 |
6 |
The 6th sequential output |
2 |
2 |
The 2nd sequential output |
3 |
1 |
The 1st sequential output |
4 |
3 |
The 3rd sequential output |
5 |
7 |
The 7th sequential output |
6 |
8 |
The 8th sequential output |
7 |
4 |
The 4th sequential output |
8 |
0 V, VDD |
The connection to the 0 V rail |
9 |
9 |
The 9th sequential output |
10 |
5 |
The 5th sequential output |
11 |
10 |
The 10th sequential output |
12 |
CO |
Carry out output - outputs high on counts 0 to 4, outputs low on counts 5 to 9 (thus a transition from low to high occurs when counting from 9 back to 0) |
13 |
LE |
Latch enable - latches on the current output when high (i.e. the chip counts when LE is low) |
14 |
CLK |
Clock in |
15 |
RST |
Reset - sets output 1 high and outputs 2 through 10 low, when taken high |
16 |
+9 V, VCC |
The connection to the +VCC rail (voltage between +3 V and +15 V) |
Example: Electronic Roulette
The
circuit diagramA circuit diagram is a simplified conventional graphical representation of an electrical circuit...
on the right shows how to create a game of
rouletteRoulette is a casino game named after a French diminutive for little wheel. In the game, players may choose to place bets on either a single number or a range of numbers, the colors red or black, or whether the number is odd or even....
using the 4017 decade counter and various other electronic parts. The switch stops the roulette, and the resistor adjusts the spin speed.
4026 counter and display decoder
The
4026 IC is a 16-pin
CMOSComplementary metal–oxide–semiconductor is a technology for constructing integrated circuits. CMOS technology is used in microprocessors, microcontrollers, static RAM, and other digital logic circuits...
seven-segment
counterIn digital logic and computing, a counter is a device which stores the number of times a particular event or process has occurred, often in relationship to a clock signal.- Electronic counters :...
from the 4000 series. It counts clock pulses and returns the output in a form which can be displayed on a
seven-segment displayA seven-segment display , or seven-segment indicator, is a form of electronic display device for displaying decimal numerals that is an alternative to the more complex dot-matrix displays...
. This avoids using a binary-coded decimal to seven-segment decoder, but it can only be used to display the (decimal) digits 0-9.
Pinout

Pin number | Name | Purpose |
1 |
CLK |
Clock in |
2 |
CI |
Clock inhibit - when low, clock pulses increment the seven-segment |
3 |
DE |
Display enable - the chip outputs to the seven-segment when this is high (i.e. when it's low, the seven-segment is off) - useful to conserve battery life, for instance |
4 |
DEO |
Display enable out - for chaining 4026s |
5 |
CO |
Carry out output - Is high when changing from 9 to 0. It provides an output at 1/10 of the clock frequency, to drive the clock input of another 4026 to provide multi-digit counting. |
6 |
F |
Output for the seven-segment's F input |
7 |
G |
Output for the seven-segment's G input |
8 |
VDD |
The connection to the 0 V rail |
9 |
D |
Output for the seven-segment's D input |
10 |
A |
Output for the seven-segment's A input |
11 |
E |
Output for the seven-segment's E input |
12 |
B |
Output for the seven-segment's B input |
13 |
C |
Output for the seven-segment's C input |
14 |
UCS |
Ungated C-segment - an output for the seven-segment's C input which is not affected by the DE input. This output is high unless the count is 2, when it goes low. |
15 |
RST |
Reset - resets all outputs to low when taken high |
16 |
VSS |
The connection to the +9 V rail |
4511 BCD to seven-segment decoder
The
4511 IC is a 16-pin
CMOSComplementary metal–oxide–semiconductor is a technology for constructing integrated circuits. CMOS technology is used in microprocessors, microcontrollers, static RAM, and other digital logic circuits...
BCD to seven-segment decoder from the 4000 series. It takes the
binary-coded decimalIn computing and electronic systems, binary-coded decimal is a digital encoding method for numbers using decimal notation, with each decimal digit represented by its own binary sequence. In BCD, a numeral is usually represented by four bits which, in general, represent the decimal range 0 through 9...
from a binary counter and decodes it to drive a
seven-segment displayA seven-segment display , or seven-segment indicator, is a form of electronic display device for displaying decimal numerals that is an alternative to the more complex dot-matrix displays...
.
Pinout
Pin number | Name | Purpose |
1 |
2s |
Input for the 2s bit from the binary counter |
2 |
4s |
Input for the 4s bit from the binary counter |
3 |
LT |
Lamp test - when low, the chip takes all the segments on the display high (to test connections, etc.) |
4 |
BI |
Blanking input - when low, the chip does not output to the display - to conserve battery life, for instance |
5 |
LE |
Latch enable - latches on the current output when high (i.e. the inputs change the output when LE is low) |
6 |
8s |
Input for the 8s bit from the binary counter |
7 |
1s |
Input for the 1s bit from the binary counter |
8 |
0 V, VDD |
The connection to the 0 V rail |
9 |
E |
Output for the seven-segment's E input |
10 |
D |
Output for the seven-segment's D input |
11 |
C |
Output for the seven-segment's C input |
12 |
B |
Output for the seven-segment's B input |
13 |
A |
Output for the seven-segment's A input |
14 |
G |
Output for the seven-segment's G input |
15 |
F |
Output for the seven-segment's F input |
16 |
+9 V, VCC |
The connection to the +9 V rail |
See also
- List of 4000 series integrated circuits
- 7400 series
The 7400 series of transistor-transistor logic integrated circuits are historically important as the first widespread family of TTL integrated circuit logic. It was used to build the mini and mainframe computers of the 1960s and 1970s...
- List of 7400 series integrated circuits
- Logic gate
A logic gate is an idealized or physical device implementing a Boolean function, that is, it performs a logical operation on one or more logic inputs and produces a single logic output. Depending on the context, the term may refer to an ideal logic gate, one that has for instance zero rise time and...
External links