Hazards and Delays in Asynchronous Sequential Switching Circuits

Abstract

This paper is concerned with asynchronous, sequential switching circuits in which the variables are represented by voltage levels, not by pulses. The effects of arbitrarily located stray delays in such circuits are analyzed, and it is shown that, for a certain class of functions, proper operation can be assured regardless of the presence of stray delays and without the introduction of delay elements by the designer. All other functions require at least one delay element in their circuit realizations to insure against hazards. In the latter case it is shown that a single delay element is always sufficient. The price that must be paid for minimizing the number of delay elements is that of greater circuit complexity.