transistor-to-transistor logic (TTL):-

Transistor-transistor logic (TTL) is a digital logic design in which bipolar transistor’s act on direct-
current pulses. Many TTL logic gate s are typically fabricated on to a single integrated circuit
(IC). TTL ICs usually have four-digit numbers beginning with 74 or 54.

A TTL device employs transistor s with multiple emitters in gates having more than one input.
TTL is characterized by high switching speed (in some cases upwards of 125 MHz ), and relative
immunity to noise . Its principle drawback is the fact that circuits using TTL draw more current
than equivalent circuits using metal oxide semiconductor ( MOS ) logic. Low-current TTL devices
are available, but the reduced current demand comes at the expense of some operating speed.

Noise margin:-
Ability of the gate to tolerate fluctuations of the voltage levels.The input and output voltage
levels defined above point. Stray electric and magnetic fields may induce unwanted voltages,
known as noise, on the connecting wires between logic circuits. This may cause the voltage at
the input to a logic circuit to drop below VIH or rise above VIL and may produce undesired
operation. The circuit’s ability to tolerate noise signals is referred to as the noise immunity, a
quantitative measure of which is called noise margin.

VNH = HIGH-state noise margin

VNL = LOW-state noise margin

VIL = LOW-state input voltage

VIH = HIGH-state input voltage

VOL = LOW-state output voltage

Where,

VNH = VOH -VIH

VNL = VIL – VOL

propagation delay:-
In computer networks, propagation delay is the amount of time it takes for the head of the
signal to travel from the sender to the receiver. It can be computed as the ratio between the
link length and the propagation speed over the specific medium.

Propagation delay is a time associated with any digital circuit and is the time between when an
input to the circuit changes until that change propagates through the circuit and changes the
output. Every digital gate (And, Or, Inverter,...) has its own propagation delay. For single gates
this delay can be very short, maybe somewhere around nano seconds or shorter. But as the
circuit grows larger and more components are put one after another, the delay increases too.
Figure below shows the propagation delay effect of a simple inverter on its output where Tp is
the propagation time:

In a more complex circuit every input can go through many different paths until it reaches the
output. Every path in the circuit also has a different delay and for a single input, the
propagation delay is the delay of the path with the longest delay because it takes that much
time for that input to give a valid output. For a multiple input circuit, the propagation delay is
equal to the maximum delay in the circuit. This is because if the output of the circuit is read
shorter than the maximum delay, in some cases the output might not be valid and can result in
false interpretations and actions.

The difference in propagation delay of different circuit paths can result in glitches on the
output, which is explained below.

Glitch
A glitch is called to an invalid and unpredicted output of a digital circuit that can be read by the
next stage and result in a wrong action. Glitches happen mostly due to propagtion delays in a
digital circuit. For example assume a circuit as below:

When input I=1, the output is 1 as one of the inputs to the OR gate is one. When I=0 also the
output is 1 as the output of the inverter will be 1 going to the OR gate. So for both these cases
the output should remain as 1. But let's see what happens when we assume some propagation
delay for the inverter. Below you can see the signals to the circuit and the output:

You can see that when the input change from 1 to 0, it takes a short time for the inverter to
provide a 1 at its output due to its propagation delay. Therefore for that short period of time
both inputs to the OR gate are zero, resulting in a zero at the output of the OR gate. Then finally
after the inverter output changes to 1, the OR gates output changes to one too.

This example shows happening of an unexpected zero ar the circuit. This is a glitch and can
cause problem for the rest of the circuit as it will propagate into the next circuits and result in
more and more glitches.

There are ways to avoid such glitches. One of the most practical ways is to put a timed gate
such as a latch or a flip-flop to isolate the output of this circuit from the next circuit and allow
the output to the next circuit only when it is valid and there are no glitches. The digital signal
that allows the output of this circuit to pass through must wait for enough time since the inputs
change until all the glitches pass, which would be more than the maximum propagation delay
of the circuit. Then it can let the output of the circuit to be presented to the next stage.
The propagation delay of a circuit is an important factor on how fast the circuit can work. When
one block of the circuit has a high delay, all the rest of the circuit will have to wait for this one
block to provide a valid output.

fan-in
Fan-in is a term that defines the maximum number of digital inputs that a
single logic gatecan accept. Most transistor-transistor logic ( TTL ) gates have
one or two inputs, although some have more than two. A typical logic gate has
a fan-in of 1 or 2.

In some digital systems, it is necessary for a single TTL logic gate to drive
several devices with fan-in numbers greater than 1. If the total number of
inputs a transistor-transistor logic (TTL) device must drive is greater than 10, a
device called a buffer can be used between the TTL gate output and the
inputs of the devices it must drive. A logical inverter (also called a NOT gate)
can serve this function in most digital circuits.

fan-out
Fan-out is a term that defines the maximum number of digital inputs that the
output of a single logic gate can feed. Most transistor-transistor logic ( TTL )
gates can feed up to 10 other digital gates or devices. Thus, a typical TTL
gate has a fan-out of 10.

In some digital systems, it is necessary for a single TTL logic gate to drive
more than 10 other gates or devices. When this is the case, a device called a
buffer can be used between the TTL gate and the multiple devices it must
drive. A buffer of this type has a fan-out of 25 to 30. A logical inverter (also
called a NOT gate) can serve this function in most digital circuits.