JK Flip-flop

A JK flip-flop is also known as a “Master Slave flip-flop”. It is a very widely used and versatile flip-flop that finds it usage in a vast majority of synchronous digital circuits. It has same operations as a SR flip-flop but JK flip-flop has no invalid state. J-K flip-flops are use in different types of synchronous counters, state machines, encoder etc. The inputs of the J-K flip-flop J & K are named after Jack Saint Clair Kilbi, the inventor of the world’s first IC.

J-K flip-flop is a synchronous flip-flop with two data input and two output. They are also called Master-Slave Flip-flop. A J-K flip-flop is a widely used flip-flop with a large number of applications. In terms of operation, it is similar to a SR latch except J-K flip-flop has no invalid state. States of J-K flip-flop are SET, RESET, TOGGLE and NO CHANGE. The schematic symbol of J-K flip-flop shown here is the ideal operating condition. Real life J-K flip-flop has 2 more inputs namely PRESET and RESET. Preset is used to set a user defined initial state on the flip-flop. Reset is used to return the flip-flop into its initial condition. Note that reset operation returns the flip-flop to its actual initial condition, not the Preset condition. Application of J-K flip-flop is in construction of both Synchronous and Asynchronous binary and decade Counter, memory circuits and in frequency division among others.