AND Gate

AND gate can be designed by using two simple diodes. The circuit driving voltage V is
applied to the parallely connected diodes and the output is collected as the voltage drop
at the diodes. In logic gates, the terms high voltage level means +5 V and low logic level
means 0 V or ground.

When one of the inputs of the AND gate is connected to logic HIGH and other is
connected to logic LOW then the diodes are at reverse bias condition and no voltage
drop at the output. So the output is measured as LOW. If the two inputs are connected
to LOW level input, then also the diodes will turn to reverse biased condition and allows
no current. So again the output is measured as 0.

But when the two inputs (two diodes) are connected to a HIGH voltage level, then the
two diodes are in forward biased condition (diodes switches are ON) so the output of
the AND gate is HIGH, and measured as logic 1.
AND gate Logic Symbol and Boolean expression

The AND gate is logically represented as shown below with two inputs and one output.

Boolean expression

If the inputs of the AND gate is X, Y and the output is Z then the operation of AND gate
is mathematically expressed in the Boolean expression as Z = X. Y. This means the
AND gate produces the multiplication of its inputs.

Truth table

The truth table for logical AND gate is given below.

The truth table describes us that the output of AND gate will be LOW with all
combinations of inputs except for both high inputs condition.
 Explanation of AND gate with light switch circuit

The AND gate switching circuit will have two inputs with two manually toggled switches.
Let the two switches be A and B, then the we can explain the switching operation of AND
gate as

 When both switches A and B are open (switches are supplied with low level input signal)
i.e. A=0, B=0, then the bulb will not glow.
 When switch A is close (supplied with high level input signal) and B is open (supplied
with low level input signal) i.e. A=1, B=0, then the bulb will not glow.
 When switch A is open (supplied with low level input signal) and B is close (supplied with
high level input signal) i.e. A=0, B=1, then the bulb will not glow.
 When both switches A and B are close (switches are supplied with high level input
signal) i.e. A=1, B=1, then the bulb will glow.

This operation of AND gate as light switching circuit is described in below pictures
Pulsed operation

If we apply two different clock signals the inputs of AND logic gate X and Y, then if we
observe the output, it will be as shown below (X, Y are inputs and Z is output)

When both inputs are high, the output of the AND gate is also high and when either of
the inputs is low, then the output comes to low level. At the end of the clock pulses in
the above diagram, the output is at low level as both the inputs are low.

AND gate using BJT Transistors

We can design an AND gate by using diodes and transistors. The AND gate with BJT
transistors is shown in below diagram.
Transistor switches are faster than diode switches. Similar to OR gate, we connect +6 V
supply to both the transistors (to their collectors) through resistors. The emitter of the
first transistor is connected to collector of the second and the emitter of second
transistor is grounded by a resistor.

The output of the resistor is collected across the emitter and grounded resistor of the
second transistor. The output of the AND gate is high only when the two transistors are
conducting (at high voltage level) and at rest of input voltage combinations, the output is
low.

3-Input AND gate

We can design an AND gate with 3 inputs also. Though the AND gate have 3 inputs, the
Boolean equation will not change. Th output of the AND gate is equal to the sum of the
inputs.

3-Input AND gate symbol

Truth table

The truth table of 3 –input AND gate is given below

The output of the 3 input AND gate is HIGH when all the 3 inputs are low and it will be
LOW for all other combinations of inputs

.
Multi-input AND Gate
AND gate mathematically produces the output equal to the multiplication of inputs. The
operation is defined by “.” (a Dot). We can design n input AND gate by cascading the
other AND gates as its inputs. Commercially, there is only 2 -input, 3 -input and 4 -input
AND gate ICs are available. If we need additional inputs, we have to cascade the
additional AND gates at the inputs of ICs.

For sample, here we design a 6 –input AND gate in below diagram.