Robert C. Dobkin (born 1943 in

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

) is an American electrical engineer, co-founder of Linear Technology Corporation, and veteran linear (analog)

integrated circuit An integrated circuit (IC), also known as a microchip or simply chip, is a set of electronic circuits, consisting of various electronic components (such as transistors, resistors, and capacitors) and their interconnections. These components a ...

(IC) designer. He has over 100 patents.

Career

Dobkin studied Electrical Engineering at

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of modern technology and sc ...

, but did not complete a degree. After early employments e.g. at GE Reentry Systems, he joined Philbrick Nexus in Massachusetts working on IC development with

Bob Pease Robert Allen Pease (August 22, 1940 – June 18, 2011) was an electronics engineer known for analog integrated circuit (IC) design, and as the author of technical books and articles about electronic design. He designed several very successf ...

. He joined

National Semiconductor National Semiconductor Corporation was an United States of America, American Semiconductor manufacturing, semiconductor manufacturer, which specialized in analogue electronics, analog devices and subsystems, formerly headquartered in Santa Clara, ...

(NSC) in January 1969. He resigned the position as Director of Advanced Circuit Development at NSC in July 1981 and co-founded

Linear Technology Linear Technology Corporation was an American semiconductor company that designed, manufactured and marketed high performance analog integrated circuits. Applications for the company's products included telecommunications, cellular telephones, ne ...

with Robert H. Swanson in the same year. Dobkin continued to serve as the company's Chief Technical Officer through its acquisition by

Analog Devices Analog Devices, Inc. (ADI), also known simply as Analog, is an American multinational corporation, multinational semiconductor company specializing in data conversion, signal processing, and power management technology, headquartered in Wilming ...

in 2016. He was on the board of directors of Spectra7 Microsystems Inc. from 2013 until his retirement in 2021. Dobkin holds more than 100 patents in the field of analog circuits. In 2021 Dobkin was charged by the SEC with insider trading for sharing non-public information regarding the merger of

and

. Dobkin was found guilty and ordered to pay a fine of $252,092.16 and barred from serving as an officer or director of a publicly traded company.

Works

* LM118, first high speed operational amplifier. * LM199, heated buried-Zener voltage reference, and its improved successor, the LTZ1000. *

LM317 The LM317 is an adjustable positive linear voltage regulator. It was designed by Bob Dobkin in 1976 while he worked at National Semiconductor.

, first variable three-pin voltage regulator. * LT1083, first

low-dropout regulator A low-dropout regulator (LDO regulator) is a type of a DC linear voltage regulator circuit that can operate even when the supply voltage is very close to the output voltage. The advantages of an LDO regulator over other DC-to-DC voltage regulat ...

. * LT3080, three terminal adjustable regulator with a current source reference.

References

External links

Interview with Bob Dobkin, October 27, 2012

Linear Technology Oral History Panel: The Founding Years with Robert Dobkin and Robert Swanson
moderated by David Laws,

Computer History Museum The Computer History Museum (CHM) is a computer museum in Mountain View, California. The museum presents stories and artifacts of Silicon Valley and the Information Age, and explores the Digital Revolution, computing revolution and its impact ...

, 31 March 2014
Interview of Robert “Bob” Dobkin
by David Laws, Computer History Museum, 30 July 2014
Patents by Inventor Robert C. Dobkin
Justia 1943 births Living people American electrical engineers 20th-century American inventors 21st-century American inventors Analog electronics engineers Silicon Valley people Businesspeople from Philadelphia Engineers from Pennsylvania {{US-electrical-engineer-stub