Logic & translation
Products that complete every design
Browse the industry's largest portfolio of standard logic devices, including some of the first bipolar logic ICs released to market and modern, low-power logic products. Generic EVMs are available to help you easily evaluate devices for qualification and development.
Product portfolio
Voltage level translators
Unidirectional, direction-controlled, and auto bidirectional voltage translation to ensure proper system communication.
Buffers & drivers
Buffers and inverters provide increased current drive and improve system signal integrity.
Transceivers
Direction-controlled devices to enable bidirectional communication and improve signal integrity.
Flip-flops, latches & registers
Flip-flops, latches, and registers to support data retention and I/O expansion.
What's new?
Introducing the HCS Family: a portfolio of logic designed for noise-sensitive, low-power and rugged applications
The HCS family simplifies product design with a portfolio of multigate logic solutions designed to address noise and power concerns by integrating Schmitt-trigger capability on every data inputs. This integration improves efficiency not just by eliminating the need for external signal buffering but also by directly reducing power requirements for a system’s logic implementation. The HCS family consumes 95% less power than its equivalent HC logic function, making the HCS logic devices well suited for battery-powered designs.
The HCS family improves signal integrity with a 40% improvement in propagation delay and a 50% higher current drive compared to HC equivalent devices. The HCS family is pin-to-pin, drop-in compatible with the HC logic family, making it easy to update your design and meet the demands of today’s applications.
Learn more about the HCS family:
- Browse our portfolio: See HCS logic products
- Read the app note: Reduce noise and save power with the new HCS logic family
- Watch the video: Eliminate slow or noisy input signals
- Explore the video series: The Logic Minute

Design challenges
Addressing common functionalities is critical for any application. Often the easiest way to do this is using a logic IC. If a design calls for signals to be passed among digital ICs, you must know the logical conditions and the required voltage ranges, or logic levels, to make your design work. To make it easier to work with logic solutions, we provide a variety of technical resources, key application notes, white papers, videos, and more. These resources, combined with our logic solutions to help solve your design challenges.
Extend output capabilities using a shift register
A commonly encountered problem when working with the microcontroller is not having enough GPIO pins to read in multiple sensors; but upgrading to a larger controller is not the only solution. You can use a serial-input parrallel-output shift register as a general purpose output expander. Using as few as two GPIO pins, shift registers can produce 8, 16, 24, 32, or more outputs. With this method you can offload the work from the MCU or eliminate the MCU altogether.
- Versatile: Output number not limited by pin count of MCUs or FPGAs.
- Increased outputs: Daisy-chain 8-bit shift-registers to enable as many outputs as you need.
- Cost-effective: Eliminate the need for a higher pin-count MCU or FPGA.
Device | Device description | Design resources |
---|---|---|
SN74HC595 | 8-BIT Shift Register/Latch 3-state SIPO | |
SN74LV164A | 8-bit parallel-out serial shift registers designed for 2-V to 5.5-V VCC operation | |
SN74LVC1G17 | Single Schmitt-trigger buffer designed for 1.65-V to 5.5-V operation |
Using logic solutions to clean slow or noisy signals
Managing noise in a system continues to be a challenge. With modern CMOS logic, sharp-edged square waves with minimal noise are required for optimal operation. Slow edges into CMOS inputs produce excessive power consumption. When slow edges and excessive noise combine, this can result in erroneous outputs and system failure. You can address this by adding a Schmitt-trigger buffer or Schmitt-trigger input logic device into the signal chain when noise or slow inputs are a problem. This will improve your noise margins, reduce power consumption, reduce noise, and produce fast edges at the output.
- Eliminate noise: Use Schmitt-triggers to add hysteresis and improve noise margins.
- Prevent errors: Improved digital signal integrity ensures correct operation.
- 4+ mA outputs: Drive long or high capacitance traces.
Device | Device description | Design resources |
---|---|---|
SN74LVC1G17 | Contains one buffer and performs the Boolean function Y = A. This single Schmitt-trigger buffer is designed for 1.65-V to 5.5-V VCC operation. | |
SN74LVC2G17 | Contains two buffers and performs the Boolean function Y = A. The device functions as two independent buffers, but because of Schmitt action, it may have different input threshold levels for positive-going (VT+) and negative-going (VT–) signals. |
Improve drive strength on parallel communication lines
Across industrial and communications equipment, it is common to connect daughter cards in a system through parallel communication lines known as “ribbon cables” or “flex cables.” These cables add capacitive load to the driver and, in many cases, can produce excessive loading such that the system controller can no longer communicate with the daughter card. If your system requires bidirectional communication, this creates a unique challenge since both boards need to have the direction changed simultaneously for correct operation. You can address this by adding a transceiver on both boards to increase drive strength and enable communication. With this approach you will also need a unidirectional buffer to transmit the direction signal across the cable to the distant end. By combining use of the transceiver and buffer, you improve drives strength and enable parallel communication across your sytem.
- Improved signal integrity: Reduces capacitive loading of the system controller
- Cost effective: Reduces the total number of required components for parallel communications
- Strong output drivers: Enable communication over long parallel communication lines
Device | Device description | Design resources |
---|---|---|
SN74LVC245A | These octal bus transceivers are designed for 1.65-V to 3.6-V VCC operation. The LVC245A | |
SN74LVC16245A | Designed for asynchronous communication between data buses. This device can be used as two 8-bit transceivers or one 16-bit transceiver and is designed for 1.65-V to 3.6-V VCC operation. |