Electronic – Do 74HCxx chips require a linear voltage generator

linear-regulatorlm78xx

Recently I've read a book that says it's absolutely necessary to use a linear voltage regulator like LM7805 in circuits that use any of 74HCxx chips (CMOS logical gates). I thought that this advice is kind of odd (LM7805 requires 9V instead of 5V I most frequently use, 4V are used just to heat an air) and decided to re-check.

I didn't find this requirement in any of 74HCxx specs, at least in specs from Texas Instruments which made chips I use. This requirement is also not mentioned in Wikipedia or any other source. All circuits I tried work just fine without LM7805, with only 100 uF capacitor as a filter. So I'm thinking, maybe this advice is outdated (the book was published in 2010) or maybe author just needed an excuse to give an example of linear voltage generator usage?

In your opinion is LM7805 required to use 74HCxx? Do you use it in your circuits?

Best Answer

There is no requirement that would require a linear regulator for 74HCx. You should read the family spec to assure yourself.

Read section 5 on the voltage ratings.

In particular look at Figure 16 which shows the family VCC relationship.

If you are using 74HC devices then they are rated for operation from 2 - 6 V ....but if you are using 74HCT then the device is only rated for 5 V +/-10% ....many do confuse this. The 74HCT devices can be mixed with 74LS TTL devices, while the 74HC are not guaranteed to interoperate with the same fanouts when mixed.

If you are mixing 74LS and 74HCT devices, you may have difficulties meeting the +/-5% VCC tolerance of the 74LS devices (ripple from switching regulators) but should have no problems for 74HC devices.