Hans R. Camenzind (; 1 January 1934 – 8 August 2012) was an electronics engineer known for designing the

555 timer IC The 555 timer IC is an integrated circuit (chip) used in a variety of timer, delay, pulse generation, and oscillator applications. Derivatives provide two ( 556) or four ( 558) timing circuits in one package. The design was first marketed in 197 ...

in 1971 under contract to Signetics. He was the inventor on 20 US

patent A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A p ...

s. Camenzind also wrote three books and numerous technical articles, and lectured at the University of Santa Clara.

Background and education

Camenzind was born and raised in

Zürich Zürich () is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zürich. It is located in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zürich. As of January 2020, the municipality has 43 ...

, Switzerland, where he went to college. In 1960 he moved to the United States, first receiving an MSEE from

Northeastern University Northeastern University (NU) is a private university, private research university with its main campus in Boston. Established in 1898, the university offers undergraduate and graduate programs on its main campus as well as satellite campuses in ...

and then an MBA from the University of Santa Clara. Camenzind taught circuit design in the morning, then attending classes at the same university at night working towards a Master's degree in Business Administration.

Career

In 1962, Camenzind joined the Laboratory for Physical Science at P.R. Mallory in

Burlington, Massachusetts Burlington is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 26,377 at the 2020 census. History It is believed that Burlington takes its name from the English town of Bridlington, Yorkshire, but this has never b ...

. After six years of research, Camenzind moved to California in 1968 to join Signetics,Signetics directory
/ref> but two years later he felt Signetics "lost its way" and resigned to write a book. He told them he didn't want to come back, and wanted to work as a consultant and independent designer, he proposed the 555 design in 1971. He then started Interdesign, a semiconductor design company, which he headed for seven years before selling out to

Ferranti Ferranti or Ferranti International plc was a UK electrical engineering and equipment firm that operated for over a century from 1885 until it went bankrupt in 1993. The company was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. The firm was known ...

. Following the sale of Interdesign, Camenzind became an independent analog IC design consultant. During his career Camenzind designed the first integrated class D amplifier, introduced the IC phase-locked loop, invented the semicustom IC, and created the legendary 555 timer. By 2006, he had designed 140 standard and custom ICs, such as: * Signetics LM555 * Signetics LM565 * Signetics LM566 * Signetics LM567 *

Zetex Semiconductors Zetex Semiconductors plc is a UK-based manufacturer of discrete semiconductor devices such as diodes and transistors. Corporate history Originally a subsidiary of Ferranti Semiconductor, Zetex took its name from Ferranti's ZTX series of bip ...

ZSCT1555

Books

Camenzind wrote three books and numerous technical articles. His last book, ''Much Ado About'' Almost ''Nothing'', published in February 2007, is a general audience book about the history of electronics. Other books include, ''Designing Analog Chips'' and, under the pen name John Penter, he also wrote, ''Circumstantial Evidence'', a book about religion.

References

External links

''Designing Analog Chips'' official website
* ''Wikipedia Page on analog Chips'' * *interview by ''Transistor Gijutsu'' magazine (Japanese subtitled) ** ** {{DEFAULTSORT:Camenzind, Hans R. 2012 deaths Analog electronics engineers Computer hardware engineers Swiss electrical engineers People from Zürich Swiss emigrants to the United States Swiss science writers 1934 births 20th-century Swiss inventors