N555E INTERGRATED CIRCUIT

Multivibrators and CMOS Oscillators can be easily constructed from discrete components to
produce relaxation oscillators for generating basic square wave output waveforms. But there are
also dedicated IC’s such as the 555 timer especially designed to accurately produce the required
output waveform with the addition of just a few extra timing components.

The basic 555 timer gets its name from the fact that there are three internally connected 5kΩ
resistors which it uses to generate the two comparators reference voltages. The 555 timer IC is a
very cheap, popular and useful precision timing device which can act as either a simple timer to
generate single pulses or long-time delays, or as a relaxation oscillator producing a string of
stabilized waveforms of varying duty cycles from 50 to 100%.

The 555-timer chip is extremely robust and stable 8-pin device that can be operated either as a
very accurate Monostable, Bistable or Astable Multivibrator to produce a variety of applications
such as one-shot or delay timers, pulse generation, LED and lamp flashers, alarms and tone
generation, logic clocks, frequency division, power supplies and converters etc. in fact any
circuit that requires some form of time control as the list is endless.

The single 555 Timer chip in its basic form is a Bipolar 8-pin mini-Dual-in-line Package (DIP)
device consisting of some 25 transistors, 2 diodes and about 16 resistors arranged to form two
comparators, a flip-flop and a high current output stage as shown below.

A simplified “block diagram” representing the internal circuitry of the 555 timer is given below
with a brief explanation of each of its connecting pins to help provide a clearer understanding of
how it works.
 Figure 1: 555 Timer Block Diagram

 Pin 1. – Ground, The ground pin connects the 555 timer to the negative (0v) supply rail.
 Pin 2. – Trigger, The negative input to comparator No 1. A negative pulse on this pin
“sets” the internal Flip-flop when the voltage drops below 1/3Vcc causing the output to
switch from a “LOW” to a “HIGH” state.
 Pin 3. – Output, The output pin can drive any TTL circuit and is capable of sourcing or
sinking up to 200mA of current at an output voltage equal to approximately Vcc – 1.5V
so small speakers, LEDs or motors can be connected directly to the output.
 Pin 4. – Reset, This pin is used to “reset” the internal Flip-flop controlling the state of the
output, pin 3. This is an active-low input and is generally connected to a logic “1” level
when not used to prevent any unwanted resetting of the output.
 Pin 5. – Control Voltage, this pin controls the timing of the 555 by overriding the 2/3Vcc
level of the voltage divider network. By applying a voltage to this pin the width of the
output signal can be varied independently of the RC timing network. When not used it is
connected to ground via a 10nF capacitor to eliminate any noise.
 Pin 6. – Threshold, The positive input to comparator No 2. This pin is used to reset the
Flip-flop when the voltage applied to it exceeds 2/3Vcc causing the output to switch from
“HIGH” to “LOW” state. This pin connects directly to the RC timing circuit.
 Pin 7. – Discharge, the discharge pin is connected directly to the Collector of an internal
NPN transistor which is used to “discharge” the timing capacitor to ground when the
output at pin 3 switches “LOW”.
  Pin 8. – Supply +Vcc, this is the power supply pin and for general purpose TTL 555
timers is between 4.5V and 15V.

The 555 Timers name comes from the fact that there are three 5kΩ resistors connected together
internally producing a voltage divider network between the supply voltage at pin 8 and ground at
pin 1. The voltage across this series resistive network holds the negative inverting input of
comparator two at 2/3Vcc and the positive non-inverting input to comparator one at 1/3Vcc.

The two comparators produce an output voltage dependent upon the voltage difference at their
inputs which is determined by the charging and discharging action of the externally connected
RC network. The outputs from both comparators are connected to the two inputs of the flip-flop
which in turn produces either a “HIGH” or “LOW” level output at Q based on the states of its
inputs. The output from the flip-flop is used to control a high current output switching stage to
drive the connected load producing either a “HIGH” or “LOW” voltage level at the output pin.

The most common use of the 555 timer oscillator is as a simple astable oscillator by connecting
two resistors and a capacitor across its terminals to generate a fixed pulse train with a time period
determined by the time constant of the RC network. But the 555 timer oscillator chip can also be
connected in a variety of different ways to produce Monostable or Bistable multivibrators as well
as the more common Astable Multivibrator.

THE MONOSTABLE 555 TIMER CONFIGURATION

The operation and output of the 555 timer monostable is exactly the same as that for the
transistorized one we look at previously in the Monostable Multivibrators tutorial. The difference
this time is that the two transistors have been replaced by the 555 timer device. Consider the 555
timer monostable circuit below.
 Figure 2: Monostable 555 Timer

When a negative ( 0V ) pulse is applied to the trigger input (pin 2) of the Monostable configured
555 Timer oscillator, the internal comparator, (comparator No1) detects this input and “sets” the
state of the flip-flop, changing the output from a “LOW” state to a “HIGH” state. This action in
turn turns “OFF” the discharge transistor connected to pin 7, thereby removing the short circuit
across the external timing capacitor, C1.

This action allows the timing capacitor to start to charge up through resistor, R1 until the voltage
across the capacitor reaches the threshold (pin 6) voltage of 2/3Vcc set up by the internal voltage
divider network. At this point the comparators output goes “HIGH” and “resets” the flip-flop
back to its original state which in turn turns “ON” the transistor and discharges the capacitor to
ground through pin 7. This causes the output to change its state back to the original stable
“LOW” value awaiting another trigger pulse to start the timing process over again. Then as
before, the Monostable Multivibrator has only “ONE” stable state.

The Monostable 555 Timer circuit triggers on a negative-going pulse applied to pin 2 and this
trigger pulse must be much shorter than the output pulse width allowing time for the timing
capacitor to charge and then discharge fully. Once triggered, the 555 Monostable will remain in
this “HIGH” unstable output state until the time period set up by the R1 x C1 network has
elapsed. The amount of time that the output voltage remains “HIGH” or at a logic “1” level, is
given by the following time constant equation.

t=1.1 R 1 C 1

Where, t is in seconds, R is in Ohms (Ω) and C in Farads (f).

555 TIMER OUTPUT

The output (pin 3) of the standard 555 timer, has the ability to either “Sink” or “Source” a load
current of up to a maximum of 200mA, which is sufficient to directly drive output transducers
such as relays, filament lamps, LED’s motors, or speakers etc., with the aid of series resistors or
diode protection. This ability of the 555 timer to both “Sink” (absorb) and “Source” (supply)
current means that the output device can be connected between the output terminal of the 555
timer and the supply to sink the load current or between the output terminal and ground to source
the load current.

Figure 3: 555 Output Sink and Source

555 TIMER TRANSISTOR DRIVER

The transistor in the two examples above, can be replaced with a Power MOSFET device or
Darlington transistor if the load current is high. For this project however, we will be using a
2N222 transistor. When using an inductive load such as a motor, relay or electromagnet, it is
advisable to connect a freewheeling (or flywheel) diode directly across the load terminals to
absorb any back emf voltages generated by the inductive device when it changes state.

Thus far we have look at using the 555 Timer to generate monostable and bistable output pulses.
In the next tutorial about Waveform Generation, we will look at connecting the 555 in an astable
multivibrator configuration. When used in the astable mode both the frequency and duty cycle of
the output waveform can be accurately controlled to produce a very versatile waveform
generator.