74HCT04 Hex inverter IC: Where & How to use 74HCT04

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The 74HCT04 IC is a hex inverter IC which is composed of six independent inverters with standard push-pull outputs. It is a high-speed inverter whose pins are low power Schottky (LSTTL) compatible. All the inputs are protected from electric discharges through the diodes protection network which provides protection from input voltages in excess of Vcc by enabling the use of current limiting resistors. It can operate within a range of -40°C to +125°C.

The 74HCT04 is a high-speed CMOS hex inverter, HCT means high-speed CMOS architecture TTL level. The level of the chip adopts TTL level. If the speed requirement is not high, 74LS04 can be used instead. The inputs include clamp diodes that enable the use of current limiting resistors to interface inputs to voltages in excess of VCC.

This article provides you with a basic overview of the 74HCT04, including its pin descriptions, features and specifications, etc., to help you quickly understand what 74HCT04 is.

● Hex Inverter IC with a voltage range of 4.5V to 5.5V

● Schmitt triggered inputs and is compatible with the TTL voltage level which allows unlimited rise and fall times.

● Sinks or Sources 4mA at Vcc= 4.5V

● CMOS logic-based with a feature of low power consumption

● Continuous Output Current: ±25mA

● Maximum Propagation Delay is 29 ns

● Min HIGH-level input voltage is 2V

● Max LOW-level input voltage is 0.8V

● Available in SO-14 and TSSOP-14 packages

● Totally Lead-Free & Fully RoHS Compliant

The 74HCT04 is a hex inverter IC, meaning it has 6 inverted (NOT Gates) inside it of which each NOT gate can perform independently on its own. NOT gates are very useful in building Logic Combinational Circuits; they can also work independently as a Wave oscillator or as a Buffer IC. Since the IC package has 6 Gates inside it, the connections get compact and the response of all 6 gates is almost identical making it more reliable.

So if you are looking for an IC which can help you Invert signals or if you circuit requires multiple NOT gates then, this IC might be the right choice for you.

The 74HCT04 IC is very simple to use. It is composed of six NOT gates, each having it’s on input and output. The input pins are supplied with signals. Connect pin 8 to the ground of the circuit and pin 16 with the positive voltage supply. As 74LS14 has six INVERTING (NOT) GATES which can be used as six individual gates. It is very easy to use this IC since the pins are TTL compatible no much external components are required. Simply power the IC and provide the input signal and we will get the output on the corresponding pin.

Each of the 6 Gates can operate individually based on the input signal. It is also important to remember that in the above simulation the Power pin (pin 14) and ground pin (pin 7) is not shown, so in real circuit the ground pin has to be grounded and the power pin has to be provided with +5V. The truth table for a NOT gate is shown below, where A represents Input and Y represents output. If the Input is high the output will be low and of the input is low the output will be high, hence this IC got its name as inverter.

The maximum low level input voltage is 0.8V, anything more that that will be considered as high and the minimum high level voltage is 2V anything less that will be considered as low. So this IC can also operate with 3.31v signal lines making it suitable for a 3.3V to 5V logic level converter.

The propagation delay is the most important feature to consider while selecting a gate. If your application needs a high-speed hex inverter, you always refer to a datasheet to find on-time and off-time of the gate. Like other gates, 74HCT04 also has a propagation delay in the order nanoseconds. Propagation delay defines how quickly the input signal will appear on the output. 74HCT04 switching time is around 29ns which is good enough for many applications.

In gates like 74HCT04 switching time is an important parameter to consider when the IC acts as a wave oscillator or buffer. It is the ability of the IC on how quickly it toggle the output based on the change in input. The time taken for the output pin to change from one state to another state is called as propagation delay, which is around 29nS for this IC. A more detail switching diagram is shown below:

switching diagram

● Combinational Logic Circuits

● Buffer IC

● Wave oscillator

● Clock signal generators

● Square wave generators

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