Hans R. Camenzind
Hans Rudolph Camenzind (* 1934 in Zurich ; † August 8, 2012 in Los Altos , California ) was a Swiss microchip developer and entrepreneur .
After moving from Switzerland to the United States in 1960 , Camenzind graduated from Northeastern University in Boston with an MSEE degree in electrical engineering and an MBA from Santa Clara University . At the beginning of the 1970s he went to the US west coast to the company Signetics (later Philips Semiconductors, now NXP ) and developed the well-known timer IC NE555 . The IC has been on the market since 1971 and is the world's best-selling integrated circuit. In 2003, the number of NE555 timer ICs manufactured worldwide was around 1 billion pieces. Hans R. Camenzind held over 35 US patents, wrote several textbooks on integrated analog circuits, but also on other areas, and lectured at Santa Clara University.
In the same year Camenzind founded his own company called InterDesign , which he sold to Ferranti in 1978, seven years later . As an independent consultant, he continued to work intensively on the development of analog integrated circuits under the name Array Design in San Francisco in the following years. In addition to the NE555 timer IC, he developed the first integrated class D amplifier and made contributions to the integration of PLL circuits ( phase locked loops ) in microchips.
Camenzind was married and had a daughter and three sons.
Fonts (selection)
- Circuit design for integrated electronics. Addison-Wesley, 1968.
- Electronic Integrated Systems Design. Warrior Pub, 1980, ISBN 0-88275-763-6 .
- As John Penter (pseudonym): Circumstantial evidence. Faraday Press, 1981, ISBN 0-939762-00-5 .
- Designing analog chips. Virtualbookworm.com Publishing, 2005, ISBN 1-58939-718-5 . Download the book .
- Much Ado about Almost Nothing: Man's Encounter with the Electron. Booklocker.Com Inc, 2007, ISBN 978-0-615-13995-1 .
Web links
- Hans Camenzind's website
- David Laws: Hans Camenzind: Remembering a "Wizard of Analog". In: Computer History Museum of September 21, 2012
- "Hans Camenzind died, the NE555 lives on" . In: heise online , August 16, 2012.
Individual evidence
- ^ An inventor of rank with Zurich roots. ( Memento from January 15, 2013 in the web archive archive.today ) In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung , October 1, 2012, accessed on December 29, 2018
- ↑ a b The 555 Timer IC - An Interview with Hans Camenzind . In: semiconductormuseum.com , accessed on December 29, 2018 (English)
- ^ Patent list, Hans R. Camenzind in: freepatentsonline.com , accessed on December 29, 2018 (English)
- ↑ Obituaries - HANS R. CAMENZIND . In: Los Altos Town Crier , August 22, 2018, accessed December 29, 2018
- ↑ Steve Taranovich: 555 timer inventor Hans Camenzind remembered . In: EDN Network , August 16, 2012, accessed December 29, 2018
- ^ Brian Fuller: Hans Camenzind, 555 timer inventor, dies . In: EE Times , August 15, 2012, accessed December 29, 2018
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Camenzind, Hans R. |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Camenzind, Hans Rudolph (full name); Penter, John (pseudonym) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Swiss microchip developer and entrepreneur |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1934 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Zurich , Switzerland |
| DATE OF DEATH | August 8, 2012 |
| Place of death | Los Altos (California) , USA |