retroelectro
the Monochip line for many years, adding it to their catalog of parts.
From the 555 timer, the first monolithic Dolby chip, to the Monochip series, Hans
References
1960 Hans Camenzind immigrates to Massachusetts from Switzerland
1. J. E. HELMREICH, “The Bombing of Zurich,” Aerospace Power Journal, Summer 2000. 2. H. Camenzind, Interviewee, The 555 Timer IC: An Interview with Hans Camenzind - The Designer of the Most Successful Integrated Circuit Ever Developed. June 2004. 3. H. R. Camenzind, Much Ado About Almost Nothing: Man’s Encounter With the Electron, Self-Published, 2007. 4. H. R. Camenzind, Designing Analog Chips, Self-Published, 2005. 5. H. R. Camenzind, “Redesigning the Old 555,” IEEE Spectrum, 1997. 6. G. Ball, No More Laughing at the Deaf Boy: A Technological Adventure Between Silicon Valley and the Alps, Self Published, 2012. 7. “James Victor Ball: Obituary,” Legacy.com, 2019. 8. Signetics Corporation, Signetics Full Line Catalog, 1972. 9. H. R. Camenzind, Electronic Integrated Systems Design, Van Nostrand, 1972. 10. D. Bray, “Analog/Linear Master Slices,” in Gate Arrays, Design Techniques and Applications, McGraw Hill, 1985. 11. C. Platt, “Homage to a Handmade Chip: The World’s Most Popular Integrated Circuit Turns 50,” 9 November 2022. 12. “New Products: Do-it-yourself IC Design,” The Electronic Engineer, 1972. 13. “Cunningham: Instruments Can thrive on Custom ICs,” Electronics The International Magazine of Electronics Technology, 1974. 14. “The Turnaround of Britain’s Ferranti,” New York Times, 1982. 15. University of Santa Clara, University of Santa Clara Bulletin, University of Santa Clara, 1975-1976. 16. P. Camenzind, “The 555 Timer Was Just the Beginning For Hans Camenzind,” 2012. 17. B. Cole, “The Debt We Owe to Hans Camenzind (1934-2012),” 2012. 18. H. R. Camenzind, Circuit Design For Integrated Circuits, Addison- Wesley Publishing Compay, 1968. 19. J. Penter, Circumstantial Evidence, San Francisco: Faraday Press, 1981. 20. Electronics Magazine.
Camenzind’s rubylith knife has had a lasting impact on today’s world.
The legacy of an IC pioneer Soon after Ferranti’s acquisition of Interdesign, Hans retired from the company and continued to teach at the University of Santa Clara. In the late 1980s, he started another design and consulting company, Array Design. After a well-lived life, Hans Camenzind died in 2012 at the age of 78. In his life, he has designed over 140 integrated circuits. Following the release of the Dolby NE545, Signetics held a very successful IPO, and Philips, the inventor of the compact cassette tape, licensed the use of the Dolby microcircuit technology. It became very popular with manufacturers of Hi-Fi sound systems, and two years later, Philips purchased Signetics outright, eventually rebranding it to Philips Semiconductor. Today Signetics lives an assumed identity under the name NXP Semiconductors. Since 1971, the original NE555 design has been cloned and copied time and time again but has not changed. According to Hans Camenzind even modern 555 timers use the same rubylith mask layout that he created in 1971. Many years later, Hans took it upon himself to redesign the 555 timer with CMOS equivalent technology, and it was produced by Zetex with the part number ZSCT1555.
1962 Hans Camenzind begins work at P.R. Mallory
Suggested reading
1. The 555 Timer IC: An Interview with Hans Camenzind - The Designer of the Most Successful Integrated Circuit Ever Developed. The Transistor Museum. 2. The 555 Timer Was Just The Beginning For Hans Camenzind by Peter Camenzind. ElectronicDesign.com 3. Redesigning the Old 555 by Hans Camenzind. IEEE Spectrum, Sept 1997 (Pages 80-85) 4. Designing Analog Chips by Hans Camenzind. DesigningAnalogChips.com 5. No More Laughing at the Deaf Boy: A Technological Adventure Between Silicon Valley and the Alps. Geoffrey Ball. 6. Homage to a Handmade Chip: The World’s Most Popular Integrated Circuit Turns 50. Make: Magazine 7. The 1972 Signetics Full-Line Catalog. Bitsavers.org 8. New Products: Do-it-yourself IC design (The Electronic Engineer, Jan 1972). Archive. org
1968 Hans Camenzind begins work at Signetics
1970
Resigns from Signetics and starts Interdesign Inc.
1972 Release of Monochip-A
1972 Release of NE555 Timer
1973 Release of NE545 Dolby Noise Processor
1973
Signetics IPO
1977 Ferranti acquires Interdesign
we get technical
34
35
Powered by FlippingBook