Introduction

A Demultiplexer (Demux) is a digital device that takes a single input

signal and directs it to one of many output lines, based on control
signals. It’s often referred to as a "data distributor" because it
distributes a single input across multiple outputs. Demultiplexers are
widely used in digital circuits for data routing, signal selection, and in
applications that need to split a signal for multiple uses.

Key Features and Functions of a Demultiplexer

1. Single Input to Multiple Outputs

o A demultiplexer channels a single data input to one of
many output lines. The exact number of outputs depends
on the control signals and demux configuration.
2. Control (or Select) Signals
o The selection of the specific output line is managed by
control signals, often in binary form. For example, a 1-to-4
demux requires two control signals, while a 1-to-8 demux
needs three control signals.
3. Parallel Data Output
o Demultiplexers effectively convert serial input data to
parallel output data, making them useful for applications
that require data to be spread out over multiple lines.
4. Symbolic Representation and Truth Table
o The demux is represented with one input, several outputs,
and control lines. The truth table maps each output to its
corresponding control signal combination.
5. Types of Demultiplexers
o 1-to-2 Demultiplexer: Directs one input to two outputs
using a single control line.
o 1-to-4 Demultiplexer: Directs one input to four outputs
using two control lines.
o 1-to-8 Demultiplexer: Directs one input to eight outputs
using three control lines.

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Demultiplexer (Demux)
The action or operation of a demultiplexer is opposite to that of the
multiplexer. As inverse to the MUX, demux is a one-to-many circuit.
With the use of a demultiplexer, the binary data can be bypassed to
one of itsmany output data lines.

Demultiplexers are mainly used in Boolean function generators and

decoder circuits. Different input/output configuration demultiplexers
are available in the form of single integrated circuits (ICs).

Also, the facility of cascading two or more IC circuits helps to

generate multiple output demultiplexers. Let us get a brief idea of
demultiplexers and
its types.

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What is Demultiplexer?
The process of getting information from one input and transmitting
the same over one of many outputs is called demultiplexing. A
demultiplexer is a combinational logic circuit that receives the
information on a single input and transmits the same information over
one of 2n possible output lines.

The bit combinations of the select lines control the selection of

specific output line to be connected to the input at given instant. The
below figure illustrates the basic idea of demultiplexer, in which the
switching of the input to any one of the four outputs is possible at a
given instant.
Demultiplexers are also called as data distributors, since they transmit
the same data which is received at the input to different destinations.
Thus, a demultiplexer is a 1-to-N device where as the multiplexer is
an Nto-1 device. The figure below shows the block diagram of a
demultiplexer or simply a DEMUX.

It consists of 1 input line; n output lines and m select lines. In this, m

selection lines are required to produce 2m possible output lines
(consider 2m = n). For example, a 1-to-4 demultiplexer requires 2
(22) select lines to control the 4 output lines.

There are several types of demultiplexers based on the output

configurations such as 1:4, 1:8 and 1:16.

These are available in different IC packages and some of the most

commo3nly used demultiplexer ICs includes 74139 (dual 1:4
DEMUX), 73136 (1:8 DEMUX), 74154 (1:16 DEMUX), 74159 (1:16
DEMUX open collector type), etc.

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1-to-2 Demultiplexer
A 1-to-2 demultiplexer consists of one input line, two output lines and
one select line. The signal on the select line helps to switch the input
to one of the two outputs. The figure below shows the block diagram
of a 1-to-2 demultiplexer with additional enable input.

In the figure, there are only two possible ways to connect the input to
output lines, thus only one select signal is enough to do the
demultiplexing operation. When the select input is low, then the input
will be passed to Y0and if the select input is high then the input will
be passed to Y1.

The truth table of a 1-to-2 demultiplexer is shown below in which the

input is routed to Y0 and Y1 depends on the value of select input S. In
the table output Y1 is active when the combination of select line and
input line are active high, i.e., S F = 11.

Therefore, the output Y1 = SF and similarly the output Y0 is equal to

S ̅ F. From the above truth table, the logic diagram of this
demultiplexer can be designed by using two AND gates and one NOT
gate as shown in below figure. When the select lines S=0, AND gate
A1 is enabled while A2 is disabled.

Then, the data from the input flows to the output line Y1. Similarly,
when S=1, AND gate A2 is enabled and AND gate A1 is disabled,
thus data is passed to the Y0 output.

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1-to-4 Demultiplexer
A 1-to-4 demultiplexer has a single input (D), two selection lines (S1
and S0) and four outputs (Y0 to Y3). The input data goes to any one
of the four outputs at a given time for a particular combination of
select lines.

This demultiplexer is also called as a 2-to-4 demultiplexer which

means that two select lines and 4 output lines. The block diagram of
1:4 DEMUX is shown below.

The truth table of this type of demultiplexer is given below. From the
truthtable it is clear that, when S1=0 and S0= 0, the data input is
connected to output Y0 and when S1= 0 and s0=1, then the data input
is connected to output Y1.

Similarly, other outputs are connected to the input for other two
combinations of select lines. From the table, the output logic can be
expressed as min terms and are given below.Where D is the input
data, Y0 to Y3 are output lines and S0 & S1 are select lines.

From the above Boolean expressions, a 1-to-4 demultiplexer can be

implemented by using four 3-input AND gates and two NOT gates as
shown in figure below. The two selection lines enable the particular
gate at a time.

So depends on the combination of select inputs, input data is passed

through the selected gate to the associated output.This type of
demultiplexer is available in IC form and a typical IC 74139 is most
commonly used dual 1-to-4 demultiplexer. It has two independent
demultiplexers and each DEMUX accepts two binary inputs as select
linesand four mutually exclusive active-low outputs.

Both demultiplexers share a common set of selection lines so they are

selected in parallel. Also, each demultiplexer consists of enable pin or
data input, for one demultiplexer it is active high data input and for
other it is active low data input.

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1-to-8 Demultiplexer
The below figure shows the block diagram of a 1-to-8 demultiplexer
that consists of single input D, three select inputs S2, S1 and S0 and
eight outputs from Y0 to Y7.

It is also called as 3-to-8 demultiplexer due to three select input lines.

It distributes one input line to one of 8 output lines depending on the
combination of select inputs.

The truth table for this type of demultiplexer is shown below. The
input D is connected with one of the eight outputs from Y0 to Y7
based on the select lines S2, S1 and S0.

For example, if S2S1S0=000, then the input D is connected to the

output Y0 and so on. From this truth table, the Boolean expressions
for all the outputs can be written as follows. From these obtained
equations, the logic diagram of this demultiplexer can be
implemented by using eight AND gates and three NOT gates as
shown in below figure. The different combinations of the select lines,
select one AND gate at given time , such that data input will appear at
a particular output.

A typical IC74237 is a 1-to-8 demultiplexer that consists of latches at

three select inputs. The pin out of this IC is given below.The pins A0
to A2 are data inputs, Y0 to Y7 are demultiplexer outputs, E1&E2 are
active-low data enable and active-high data enable pins respectively,
LE is the latch enable input, Vcc and GND terminals are positive
supply voltage and ground terminals with a 3-bit storage latch, this IC
combines the 3-to-8 decoder function.

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1-to-8 DEMUX using Two 1-to- 4 Demultiplexers
When the application requires a large demultiplexer with more
number of output pins, then we cannot implement by a single
integrated circuit. In case if more than 16 output pins are needed, then
two or more demultiplexer ICs are cascaded to fulfill the requirement.
For example, if the application needs 32 output lines from a DEMUX,
then we cascade two 1:16 demultiplexers or three 1:8 demultiplexers.
Therefore, by cascading the two or more demultiplexers, a large
demultiplexer can be implemented.

Consider the case that a 1-to-8 demultiplexer can be implemented by

using two 1-to-4 demultiplexers with a proper cascading.

In the above figure, the highest significant bit A of the selection

inputs areconnected to the enable inputs such that it is complemented
before connecting to one DEMUX and to the other it is directly
connected. By this configuration, when A is set to zero, one of the
output lines from Y0 to Y3 is selected based on the combination of
select lines B and C.

Similarly, when A is set to one, based on the select lines one of the
output lines from Y4 to Y7 will be selected.

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Applications of Demultiplexer
Since the demultiplexers are used to select or enable the one signal
out of many, these are extensively used in microprocessor or
computer control systems such as
 Selecting different IO devices for data transfer
 Choosing different banks of memory
 Depends on the address, enabling different rows of memory
chips
 Enabling different functional units.
Other than these, demultiplexers can be found in a wide variety
of application such as
 Synchronous data transmission systems
 Boolean function implementation (as we discussed full
subtractor function above)
 Data acquisition systems
 Combinational circuit design
 Automatic test equipment systems
 Security monitoring systems (for selecting a particular
surveillance camera at a time), etc.

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References:

1. Demultiplexer (Demux) (electronicshub.org)

2. Digital Techniques Book

3. www.google.com

4. www.watelectronics.com

5. https://www.javatpoint.com/de-multiplexer-digital-electronics