Electronic – Propagation delay of a gate

digital-logic

If the propagation delay of a gate is said to be 10ns, what will happen if a pulse of width less than 10ns is applied ? Say a buffer has prop. delay = 10ns. Will it swallow the pulse like in Z2 ? Or propagate it with a delay 10 ns like in Z1 ? Propagation delay is actually inertial or transport delay ?

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Best Answer

The detail depends on how the gate is built internally. Some have more elements in series than others, which will reduce the length of pulse they will transmit.

In practice, a pulse of 2nS will likely get swallowed by a gate with a 10nS delay. However, as the pulse length is increased, it will likely be transmitted, at least in part, before it's as long as 10nS.