Increasing fan-out . . . . . . . . the propagation delay. A. Increases B. Decreases C. Does not affect D. Exponentially decreases

The correct answer is: B. Decreases.

Fan-out is the number of logic gates that can be driven by a single

output gate. Increasing fan-out decreases the propagation delay, which is the time it takes for a signal to travel from the input to the output of a gate. This is because increasing fan-out reduces the load on the output gate, which allows it to switch faster.

Option A is incorrect because increasing fan-out decreases the propagation delay. Option C is incorrect because increasing fan-out does affect the propagation delay. Option D is incorrect because increasing fan-out does not exponentially decrease the propagation delay.