High impedance

In electronics, high impedance means that a point in a circuit (a node) allows a relatively small amount of current through. High impedance circuits are low current, high voltage, whereas low impedance circuits are the opposite.

Digital electronics

In digital circuits, a high impedance (also known as hi-Z, tri-stated, or floating) output is not being driven to any defined logic level by the output circuit. The signal is neither driven to a logical high nor low level; this third condition leads to the description "tri-stated". Such a signal can be seen as an open circuit (or "floating" wire) because connecting it to a low impedance circuit will not affect that circuit; it will instead itself be pulled to the same voltage as the actively driven output. The combined input/output pins found on many ICs are actually tri-state capable outputs which have been internally connected to inputs. This is the basis for bus-systems in computers, among many other uses.

The high-impedance state of a given node in a circuit cannot be verified by a voltage measurement alone. A pull-up resistor can be used to try to pull the wire to high and low voltage levels. If the node is not in a high-impedance state, extra current from the resistor will not significantly affect its voltage level.

Analog electronics

In analog circuits a high impedance node is one that does not have any low impedance paths to any other nodes. Since the terms low and high depend on context to some extent, it is possible in principle for some high impedance nodes to be described as low impedance in one context, and high impedance in another.

High impedance nodes have higher thermal noise and are more prone to capacitive and inductive noise pick up. They are often difficult to probe as the impedance of a scope or meter can heavily affect the signal or voltage on the node. High impedance nodes are used because some transducers require a high impedance load, and useful in amplifiers since high impedance allows for large voltage gains without large power consumption.

See also

• Electrical impedance
• Three-state logic
• Four valued logic