Assertive latching flip-flop

摘要

An assertive latching flip-flop circuit is provided which prevents the occurrence of metastable outputs. The circuit comprises a single flip-flop which is comprised of standard switching transistors which are switched by a clocking mechanism having no additionally introduced delay. The circuit includes an imbalancing element which is coupled to a latching portion of the circuit. The latching portion of the circuit comprises a pair of cross-coupled transistors, in current mode embodiments of the invention, or a pair of cross-coupled inverters, in voltage mode embodiments of the invention. The imbalancing element introduces an electrical disturbance on the input line to one of the latching transistors or inverters. The imbalancing element is a capacitor in voltage mode embodiments of the invention and an additional transistor in current mode embodiments.