Fan-out
Digital electronic term / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article is about digital electronics. For the software concept, see Fan-out (software).
In digital electronics, the fan-out is the number of gate inputs driven by the output of another single logic gate.
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In most designs, logic gates are connected to form more complex circuits. While no logic gate input can be fed by more than one output at a time without causing contention, it is common for one output to be connected to several inputs. The technology used to implement logic gates usually allows a certain number of gate inputs to be wired directly together without additional interfacing circuitry. The maximum fan-out of an output measures its load-driving capability: it is the greatest number of inputs of gates of the same type to which the output can be safely connected.