These 8-bit registers feature 3-state outputs designed specifically for driving highly capacitive or relatively low-impedance loads. The high-impedance 3-state and increased high-logic-level drive provide these registers with the capability of being connected directly to and driving the bus lines in a bus-organized system without need for interface or pullup components. These devices are particularly attractive for implementing buffer registers, I/O ports, bidirectional bus drivers, and working registers.

The eight latches of the ’LS373 and ’S373 are transparent D-type latches, meaning that while the enable (C or CLK) input is high, the Q outputs follow the data (D) inputs. When C or CLK is taken low, the output is latched at the level of the data that was set up.