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How to Read a Datasheet Prepared for the WIMS outreach program 5/6/02, D. Grover In order to use a PIC microcontroller, a flip-flop, a photodetector, or practically any electronic device, you need to consult a datasheet. This is the document that the manufacturer provides telling you • the typical device performance • minimum and maximum requirements and characteristics • what you can do to the device without harming it • suggested uses and hints Manufacturers want you, the designer, to have a successful experience with their device. They are trying to be helpful. They don’t always succeed. The datasheet on the following pages is a relatively good datasheet. It tries to concisely tell you everything you need to know about the device, a common 555 timer chip (the duct-tape of the electronics hobbyist). Most datasheets for ICs follow the same general layout. You don’t have to understand everything in a datasheet. There’s a lot of information that might not be of any use to you. The annotations that follow try to point out parts of the datasheet that you should pay particular attention to. Where do you find datasheets? Nowadays you can find almost any datasheet on the internet, often in PDF (Acrobat) form. For example, the LM555 datasheet from National Semiconductor is on their website at . What is the LM555? The LM555 is a timer chip that uses external resistors and capacitors to generate either a single pulse of a certain duration, or a continuous sequence of pulses with a variety of pulse widths possible. Because it is a very general purpose collection of functional blocks such as comparators, a flip-flop, internal voltage divider, high power output stage, and so on, a number of different timing-related functions are possible. Entire books have been written about the 555, though it is often used when another IC would work bett