Lab Manual (MT 3008)

EXPERIMENT NO.
OBJECT: Construct Decade counter (BCD counter) using IC 7490.
APPARATUS REQUIRED: Decade counter IC (7490), Bread board trainer, connecting
wires.
THEORY:
Decade counter is a counter that counts from 0 to 9 (10 states). IC 7490 is a 4-bit, ripple-type
decade counter. It consists of four master/slave flip-flops, which are internally connected to form
a divide-by-two section and a divide-by-five section. Each section has a separate clock input to
change the output states of the counter on a high-to-low clock transition.

NC- Not connected

Fig. 1: Pin diagram & internal architecture of decade counter IC7490

To produce a divide-by-10 BCD decade counter, both internal counter circuits are used giving a
2 times 5 divide-by value. Since the first output QA from flip-flop “A” is not internally connected
to the succeeding stages, the counter can be extended to form a 4-bit BCD counter by connecting
this QA output to the CLKB input as shown.

Thus we can see that decade counter (BCD counters) is a binary counter that count
from 0000 to 1001 and then resets as it has the ability to clear all of its flip-flops after the ninth
count. If we connect a pushbutton switch (SW1) to clock input CLKA, each time the pushbutton
switch is released the counter will count by one. If we connected light emitting diodes (LED’s)
to the output terminals, QA, QB, QC and QD as shown, we can view the binary coded decimal
count as it takes place.

KHALID, Lecturer (Electronics) Page 1

 Lab Manual (MT 3008)

Fig.2: Connection diagram for decade counter using IC7490

Truth Table:

RESULT: Thus we have constructed Decade counter (BCD counter) using IC 7490 & have
verified its operation.

KHALID, Lecturer (Electronics) Page 2