Bob Widlar (1937-1991) is undoubtedly one of the most outstanding hardware engineers of all time. In fact, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that he is the user who, single-handedly, introduced the entire analog integrated circuit industry. Of course, it was Robert Noyce and Jack Kilby who invented the concept of built-in circuits, but it was Widlar’s genius and pragmatism that brought it to life. Although he was not the first to realize the limitations of the plane procedure and design integrated circuits as discrete circuits. , was the first to devise a real global solution: the μA702, the first linear IC op-amp. Combining his genius in engineering, his understanding of the economics of circuit design, and his awareness of the limitations of means and procedures. He and Dave Talbert led the world of built-in analog circuitry in the ’60s and ’70s. For a significant period, they were guilty of more than 80% of all linear circuits manufactured and sold worldwide.
The list of their creations includes gems such as the µA709, an improvement over the original µA702 and a Fairchild flagship for years, the µA723, the first built-in voltage regulator, and the LM10, the first ultra-low voltage operational amplifier, still in production currently. Students are introduced to Widlar through the old textbook: Widlar Current Source, a key detail in many of his designs, and Bandgap Voltage Reference, both of which generate an endless supply of mind-bending exam problems. If there is a common theme in all of Widlar’s creations, it is that he never designed a circuit in his lifetime. Each Widlar creation comes with a touch of originality, an exclusive concept and, very often, a joke. A classic example is the story of the LM109, the industry’s first three-terminal adjustable voltage regulator. In 1969, Widlar wrote an article opposing the feasibility of monolithic voltage regulators due to temperature diversifications and packaging limitations. Since he was already an engineering legend at that time, the industry took him seriously and other people abandoned these types of devices. Then, in 1970, he developed a circuit, the LM109, that used his bandgap voltage reference to achieve precisely that “impossible” characteristic. Most likely, he presented the two works a few days apart.
In addition to being a brilliant designer, Widlar was the embodiment of a coming era in Silicon Valley, combining a countercultural, no-nonsense attitude with an entrepreneurial hobby and a preference for creating products that other people love. He worked directly with clients and wrote his own application notes and knowledge sheets. In fact, Widlar’s µA702 set the broad definition for how all analog IC knowledge sheets deserve to be written in the future. His precept was “design for a minimum of phone calls” and “if you make a million embedded circuits; “You get part of a million phone calls if they don’t work properly. ” Or he was destroyer of worlds and author of new markets; He came into Fairchild claiming that “what they do in analog is nonsense,” but he left the company as a dominant player in linear embedded circuits for years to come, basically riding on the wings of his creations. He then joined Molectro (owned by National), but temporarily ended up shaking up the parent company and turning it into an analog powerhouse. At the age of 33 he collected money and retired to Mexico. But his hands could not remain inactive for long. He returned temporarily as a contractor for National and, in 1980, eventually founded Linear Technology with Robert Swanson and Bob Dobkin.
Yet he remained a troublemaker, a laid-back thinker, and a human resources nightmare…closer in spirit to someone like Hemingway than to a fellow “professional” engineer. Such an attitude was contagious, and he encouraged a new wave of analog “joker” geniuses like Bob Pease and Jim Williams. Widlar’s jokes are too many to count and, in fact, it is difficult to choose the one that best captures the spirit of the time. Maybe it was when Widlar led sheep in front of National in reaction to the company not mowing its lawn due to cost cutting (really, he just needed an excuse to annoy senior management). Or when he bombed the intercom speaker again, just to spite one of the national vice presidents. Some of the jokes were genuine hardware, such as a “complicated” circuit he built to find audio, convert it to a very high audio frequency, and play the switched sound. The net effect of such a design was that the louder a user spoke in the workplace, the more annoying was the “ringing” effect caused by the feedback. Since a user would avoid shouting to hear the cause of the ringing, the effect would also disappear. In this way, he managed to get everyone in the workplace to speak quietly, Pavlov style.
Widlar passed away in 1991, but his legacy lives on. In fact, he was the original hardware hacker and more than just an engineer – he was an artist. Thanks to guys like him, Analog still has that special feel and is more about “inventing” than just following the undeniable trail between A and B. And that’s why the guys at Analog greet everyone with a “Widlar Greeting. “
Now that I’ve finished my inspection and I’m still angry that I wasted a lot of time deceiving myself with a faulty component, what do I deserve to do?I use WIDLIZADA regularly and it makes me feel so much better. How can I do this? You take it to the anvil of the vise and hit it with a hammer, until it shrinks to little pieces, so small you don’t even want to sweep them off the ground. It makes you feel better. And you know that this component will never cause you problems again. This is no joke, because if you have a faulty potentiometer or capacitor and you put it aside, a few months later you find out that it slipped into your new circuit and you’re wasting your time again. . When you WIDLARIZE something, it’s not going to happen. And the late Bob Widlar is the one who showed me how to do it.
Bob Pease – Troubleshooting Analog Circuits
[1] Bo Lojek – History of Semiconductor Engineering, Springer, 2007
[2] Bob Pease – Analog Circuit Troubleshooting, 1987
[3] http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Bob_Widlar
[4] http://readingjimwilliams. blogspot. com/2012/04/my-favorite-widlar-story. html
[5] http://analogfootsteps. blogspot. com/search/label/Bob Widlar
[6] http://electronicdesign. com/analog/what-s-all-widlar-stuff-anyhow
[7] http://silicongenesis. stanford. edu/transcripts/dobkinwilliams. htm
[8] http://edn. com/electronics-blogs/anablog/4311277/Bob-Widlar-cherry-bombs-the-intercom-speaker-item-2
Wonderful article. I had a good laugh reading it in the workplace while running :). I lost 15 minutes of boring paintings, thanks to you!
This article counts as career progression and will be added to your timesheet 😉
It’s approved, thank you!
Guys very présentés. Merci. La last quote is now my new mantra for faulty components. . . After the autopsy, of course.
Good article!
Wonderful! I hope this is the first of many.
It “revolutionized hardware” at a time when software was still a condensed concept and essentially each and every company was a hardware company.
Wow, Cave Johnson in life.
1 combustible lemon.
Then I found out that Bob Widlar is the guy in the Broadcast #2 video. Photo ID here: http://imgur. com/a/5aQTA
It’s funny that “we’re going to promise a delivery by September that we couldn’t deliver before Christmas. It’s the IT game” is still true today.
The most ironic thing is that Nacional is now IT’s!
Why do shoddy corporations buy smart corporations and vice versa?You’d think the latter would make more money.
Because rotten corporations are the ones with money. . .
Part of good luck is knowing when being better isn’t. . . elder. Very often, “winning” in a given market is not about having the most productive product, but about being the first to market a product that is “good enough. “”, or the cheapest product up to a safe quality level. This is a major component of what has brought Microsoft good luck, while being widely ridiculed by other people who continue to buy and use MS products.
It’s to build a thatched house.
Hello everyone, Bob Widlar, yesterday I read the Wikipedia article about the maverick genius!
Great story, wonderful individual. Not the one whose story is told so much. You hear all about the other people who left Fairchild. Not so much of those who stayed. Congratulations to Widlar.
A smart guy, the “heavy drinker,” I know.
Have you noticed that he looks like Andy Kaufman?Around the eyes and eyebrows. . .
I like these kinds of posts, I had never heard of this guy before, wonderful story!
I’ve heard of everything Bob Widlar has done, but I’ve never heard of it before. His death when he was in good shape is indeed a warning.
You’re serious.
One of those brilliant people who deserves to be remembered and be an example for young technicians and engineers. Thanks for the article, I really enjoyed it. Let’s hope the series continues.
Sweet. Where do you plug it in? 😉
2 1b. ; Don’t true enthusiasts use the 24-pound version?
someone else thinks of Sylvester McCoy. . . MDR.
Yes, that crossed my mind too. 🙂
I liked the article and wouldn’t complain if I created more. The other day, in a parking lot, a passenger in another vehicle gave Widlar’s salute, of course I returned it. Does that mean we’re analog guys?
He’s certainly a genius. He is also a mythical drinker. I met engineers who attended technical presentations where he was a guest speaker. You didn’t need to risk asking him a question. You’ll probably get a reaction like, “I’ve come across fire hydrants. “Smarter than you. “
Likes Steve Carell
From what I heard from someone at the NSC at the time, the NSC’s announcement with the middle finger made through Mike Scott (see http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Michael_Scott_(Apple)), who later served as Apple’s representative. First President.
It’s not that at the time they didn’t have even a fraction of the resources we usually take for granted. It wasn’t enough to design a “functional” circuit: it had to be producible, robust and financially viable. Three spaces that are sometimes decidedly antagonistic in many processes.
There’s also no FEA modeling. . .
What possibilities would even the most professional “average hackers” have to put functional integrated circuit processes into production with the resources that Widlar had?
Keep in mind that in the past, some processes were resolved as you went along.
This “problematic” circuit sounds interesting, do you have any data about it?
Digital? All idiots know how 1.
Very funny article. Thanks for writing it. I wish I had noticed it sooner!Widlar is one of a kind, something that will hardly be noticed in our industry.
One small detail: I doubt he designed the 723, and I wonder where he got that claim from. At best, he arguably would have sketched out some basics before leaving Fairchild, but the role didn’t come along until long after Widlar joined National. In addition, the component does not exhibit the peculiarities normally seen on a Widlar chip. If it has anything to do with it, it will have to have been from the early design phases and someone else did the work.
After doing some more research, I found out that the real designer of the 723 was J. D. ” Darryl” Lieux (had his middle name), according to Dave Fullagar, father of the 741 and Lieux’s colleague at Fairchild at the time.
Lieux passed away last year. We honor his memory with the credits he deserves.
So, if you have a project, do you widlarize what you’ve put out just to be sure?
An aphorism of the time, if a bit off-topic: once you’ve blown up the elements of your daily wage’s price, it’s time to go home.
Be kind and respectful to make the feedback segment great. (Comment Policy)
This is what Akismet uses to reduce spam. Find out how your observational knowledge is processed.