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31 Flavors of MUX, maybe less...

A project log for MUX based ALU thoughts and experiment

Or what the humble relay taught me about fast logic

ken-kd5zxgKen KD5ZXG 08/09/2020 at 23:560 Comments

Look-through somewhat resembles Carry Skip. Except using switches at every slice, never skipping. Combinatorial MUX (like 74151) would slow this simple scheme down to an ordinary ripple. Let's look at some choices available in <6ohm <7nS switching without getting brand specific.

Flavor #1) Plain N-Channel switched: Powered by 5V, but has difficulty gating more than 3.3V LVTTL through the switch. Resistance goes up sharply if the gate can't be held a good threshold above the channel. 

Flavor #2) Parallel N and P-Channel switched: Powered by 3.3V, and low resistance near both rails. But slowed by capacitance. P takes a much bigger gate and channel to match N. Upper rail again limits our signal to LVTTL.

Flavor #3) N-Channel w. charge pumped gate drive: Doubler powered? Very fast. Can easily pass 5VTTL. But the pump limits how often it can switch. Maybe 10~20MHz at best.

These come in a bizarre zoo of numbers and letters without obvious relation to legacy TTL or HC parts they often share pinouts with. Even parametric search won't show all options you should consider. Is it an Analog Switch you need? Is it a Bus Switch? Is it VGA, HDMI, Automotive, or USB? Won't appear all in one list to get a handle on it, so expect days of research.

Switching times seem an afterthought to all but those marketed as Bus Switches. Not saying all other types switch slow, but starting your search with that style may be helpful. Particularly 74CB series.

Beware there can be different behavior between parts with the same number. Particularly dual 4Way MUX with two /OE's. Some versions have all or nothing shutdown behavior, others allow for separate control. Read your spec sheet and pay extra attention to insignificant letters after the part number.

I try not to use /OE to combine small MUX into larger arrays. It specs a little slower than Select. Not sure why, but may have to do with break before make... 

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