Bob Widlar

Robert John Widlar (pronounced wide-lar; November 30, 1937 – February 27, 1991) was an American electronics engineer and a designer of linear integrated circuits (ICs).

Early years Widlar was born November 30, 1937, in Cleveland to parents of Czech, Irish and German ethnicity. His mother, Mary Vithous, was born in Cleveland to Czech immigrants Frank Vithous (František Vitouš) and Marie Zakova (Marie Žáková). His father, Walter J. Widlar, came from prominent German and Irish American families whose ancestors settled in Cleveland in the middle of the 19th century. The world of electronics surrounded him since birth: one of his brothers became the first baby monitored by wireless radio. He graduated from Saint Ignatius High School in Cleveland and enrolled at the University of Colorado at Boulder. In February 1958 Widlar joined the United States Air Force. He instructed servicemen in electronic equipment and devices and authored his first book, Introduction to Semiconductor Devices (1960), a textbook that demonstrated his ability to simplify complex problems. His liberal mind was a poor match for the military environment, and in 1961 Widlar left the service.

Achievements Widlar invented the basic building blocks of linear ICs including the Widlar current source, the Widlar bandgap voltage reference and the Widlar output stage. Each of Widlar's circuits had "at least one feature which was far ahead of the crowd" and became a "product champion" in its class. They made his employers, Fairchild Semiconductor and National Semiconductor, the leaders in linear integrated circuits. Four years later he returned to National Semiconductor as a contractor, and produced a series of advanced linear ICs, including the first ultra-low-voltage operational amplifier with precision 200mV voltage reference (LM10).

Widlar's eccentric, and outspoken personality, as well as his bohemian lifestyle, made him the enfant terrible of Silicon Valley. He is remembered in legends, myths, and anecdotes that are largely true. According to Thomas Lee, Fairchild also wanted to have Widlar on board, and breached professional ethics by recruiting a key employee of their customer. In September 1963 Widlar was invited for an interview with Fairchild research and development (R&D) manager Heinz Ruegg. Widlar arrived at the interview intoxicated, and frankly told Ruegg what he thought about Fairchild's analog circuits: "What they are doing is bullshit". Widlar was sent to another interview with the company's Applications Engineering division, which was based in Mountain View, California. The division head, John Hulme, hired Widlar despite objections from the first round interviewers. Widlar's first assignment at Fairchild targeted IC reliability through adjustments in fabrication processes. This early work, directed by process engineer

In 1963 Fairchild's analog IC lineup, designed to military specifications, consisted of three amplifier circuits.

Widlar and Talbert were instrumental in the takeover of National Semiconductor by former Fairchild Semiconductor managers Charles Sporck, Fred Bialek, Floyd Kvamme, Roger Smullen and Pierre Lamond in February 1967. This new team quickly turned National Semiconductor into a leading producer of electronic circuits, and Fairchild Semiconductor slipped into an irreversible decline. Widlar's popularity in the industry soared: advertised as "the man who designed more than half of the world's linear circuits", he frequently gave lectures to fellow engineers, and on May 23, 1970, spoke to an audience at Madison Square Garden. Regis McKenna, former National Semiconductor executive, said in 1995 that "most of the linear devices that were probably built and marketed for the period of the sixties and seventies were based on Widlar and Talbert's technology. I mean they created, in many ways, this industry... they were the Steve Jobs and the Bill Gates, and whatever fame you want to give to anybody, they were famous people of those days. And the journals... you couldn't find a journal without their picture in it...".

Retirement (1970–1974) On December 21, 1970, Widlar and Talbert resigned from National Semiconductor when National Semiconductor refused to reward them adequately. Widlar cashed in his stock option for $1 million , and retired to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, at the age of 33. For four years he provided consultancy to the industry, but had not been formally employed anywhere for more than three years. His proud statement: "I don't work" caused him frequent troubles when crossing the Mexican border and eventually, Widlar created a set of fake business cards presenting him as a "road agent" for "Morgan Associates".

LM12 and LM10

Some of Widlar's designs like the LM12 power amplifier and the LM10 ultra-low-voltage amplifier introduced in 1978, remain in production in the 21st century. The LM10 is capable of operating with a 1.1V power supply, thus instead of a conventional bandgap reference it employs Widlar's sub-bandgap circuit locked at 200 mV and the low-voltage Widlar output stage. For 10 years, no one else in the industry was able to produce a circuit that matched the LM10.

Linear Technology (1981–1984)

In 1981 Swanson, Dobkin and Widlar co-founded Linear Technology. said in 2006:

National Semiconductor (1984–1991)

Widlar returned to National Semiconductor for the remainder of his life. David Liddle said in 2009 that "the untimely early death of ... Robert Widlar is a whole story in itself". Early reports incorrectly said that Widlar died while jogging on a beach. Bob Pease wrote more precisely: "Apparently he had been jogging on a sidewalk, in a steep hilly section of Puerta Vallarta. Bob was, in recent years, pretty much into fitness, and he worked hard at his running ... I'm no doctor. But he did not die drunk, which may have amazed a number of his colleagues". |group=note#tag:ref|Jack Gifford said in 2002 that both Widlar and Talbert "were heavy drinkers". who went on all-night-long bar binges. According to Jack Gifford, Widlar liked to harass and fight others when drunk, but regularly overestimated his own abilities in such confrontations. On one occasion he was "absolutely clocked" by the offended Mike Scott, a future CEO of Apple Inc.

According to fellow analog circuit designer Bob Pease, Widlar cut down on his drinking shortly before death. Gifford said in 2002: "He stopped drinking but I think the damage was probably done, you know, in the first twenty years."

Widlar's eccentric behavior is remembered in legends and anecdotes which, according to Bob Pease, are largely true. He did practice widlarizing – methodically destroying a faulty component or a flawed prototype with a sledgehammer.

However, the story about Widlar bringing a goat to trim the lawn in front of his office, retold by The New York Times after his death, Widlar brought her in his Mercedes-Benz convertible for just one day, which included a photo op for the local journalists. In 2009 Widlar was inducted in the National Inventors Hall of Fame. A sculpture dedicated to Bob Widlar and Jean Hoerni initially stood in front of the Maxim Integrated Products building in Sunnyvale, California; and was relocated in 2012 to Maxim's new headquarters in San Jose, California.