555 timer IC

The 555 timer IC is an integrated circuit (chip) used in a variety of timer, pulse generation, and oscillator applications. The 555 can be used to provide time delays, as an oscillator, and as a flip-flop element. Derivatives provide two (556) or four (558) timing circuits in one package.555 internal block diagram555 internal schematic of bipolar version555 internal schematic of CMOS versionPinout of 555 single timer (8 pins)Pinout of 556 dual timer (14 pins) (conceptually two 555 timers) The 555 timer IC is an integrated circuit (chip) used in a variety of timer, pulse generation, and oscillator applications. The 555 can be used to provide time delays, as an oscillator, and as a flip-flop element. Derivatives provide two (556) or four (558) timing circuits in one package. Introduced in 1972 by Signetics, the 555 is still in widespread use due to its low price, ease of use, and stability. It is now made by many companies in the original bipolar and in low-power CMOS technologies. As of 2003, it was estimated that 1 billion units were manufactured every year. The 555 is the most popular integrated circuit ever manufactured. The IC was designed in 1971 by Hans R. Camenzind under contract to Signetics, later acquired by Philips Semiconductors, now NXP. In 1962, Camenzind joined PR Mallory's Laboratory for Physical Science in Burlington, Massachusetts. He designed a pulse-width modulation (PWM) amplifier for audio applications; however, it was not successful in the market because there was no power transistor included. He became interested in tuners such as a gyrator and a phase-locked loop (PLL). He was hired by Signetics to develop a PLL IC in 1968. He designed an oscillator for PLLs such that the frequency did not depend on the power supply voltage or temperature. Signetics subsequently laid off half of its employees due to a recession; development on the PLL was thus frozen. Camenzind proposed the development of a universal circuit based on the oscillator for PLLs and asked that he develop it alone, borrowing equipment from Signetics instead of having his pay cut in half. Other engineers argued the product could be built from existing parts; however, the marketing manager bought the idea. Among 5xx numbers that were assigned for analog ICs, the special number '555' was chosen. Camenzind also taught circuit design at Northeastern University in the morning attending the university himself at night working toward a Master's degree in Business Administration. The first design for the 555 was reviewed in the summer of 1971. Assessed to be without error, it proceeded to layout design. A few days later, Camenzind got the idea of using a direct resistance instead of a constant current source finding later that it worked. The change decreased the required 9 pins to 8 so the IC could be fit in an 8-pin package instead of a 14-pin package. This revised design passed a second design review with the prototype completed in October 1971. The 9-pin copy had been already released by another company founded by an engineer who attended the first review and retired from Signetics; that firm withdrew its version soon after the 555 was released. The 555 timer was manufactured by 12 companies in 1972 and it became a best selling product. It has been falsely hypothesized that the 555 got its name from the three 5 kΩ resistors used within. Hans Camenzind has stated that the part number was arbitrary, thus it was simply a coincidence they matched. The 'NE' and 'SE' letters of the original parts numbers (NE555 and SE555) were temperature designations for analog chips from Signetics, where 'NE' was commercial temperature family and 'SE' was military temperature family. Depending on the manufacturer, the standard 555 package includes 25 transistors, 2 diodes and 15 resistors on a silicon chip installed in an 8-pin dual in-line package (DIP-8). Variants available include the 556 (a DIP-14 combining two complete 555s on one chip), and 558 / 559 (both a DIP-16 combining four reduced-functionality timers on one chip). The NE555 parts were commercial temperature range, 0 °C to +70 °C, and the SE555 part number designated the military temperature range, −55 °C to +125 °C. These were available in both high-reliability metal can (T package) and inexpensive epoxy plastic (V package) packages. Thus the full part numbers were NE555V, NE555T, SE555V, and SE555T.