IEEE Solid-States Circuits Magazine - Winter 2021 - 19

collection of coinventors. Whether in his office in solitude or with
a group around a whiteboard,
he has been a prolific innovator.
Paul was often brought in to help
a team solve an intractable problem, and a new circuit or other invention was often the result.
Many engineers find patenting
arduous, but, for Paul, it became
part of the thought process around
a problem. He has always been fascinated with the deconstruction and
reconstruction of an idea or concept,
which makes him particularly adept
at breaking an idea down to its critical elements, thus building a very
effective set of claims.
Patents reflect Paul's fascination
not just with ideas, but how to capture the ideas and understand
them at the deepest possible level.
He is never satisfied with a " Don't
worry, it seems to work " approach.
If you do not truly understand what
your circuit is doing (and why),
it is sure to betray you, and probably at the worst possible moment.
The deconstruction of an idea often
leads to the next idea and, in many
cases, the core principle. Paul loves
sharing these insights: his technical papers build up a circuit like a
story unfolding before the eyes of
the audience. The listener or reader
is provided not just with an appreciation that something remarkable
is being done but also with the
understanding of how it has been
done-like a magician who shares
the secret of how the trick works.
(See accompanying article on " a nice
little amplifier " [1].)
In addition to technical papers
and presentations, Paul's explanatory
writing style is effective in helping
customers wrestle with the challenges
they face with their circuits. Application notes written by Paul on topics
like grounding and decoupling continue to be some of the most popular
in ADI's collection. My undergraduate professor chose Paul's application
notes as required curriculum, and
these are still among the most valuable texts I have (see " Examples of

Over the years, Paul continued to develop
refinements like curvature correction and other
techniques to improve the accuracy, temperature
stability, and versatility of these circuits.
Paul Brokaw's Significant Publications, Patients, and So Forth " ).

Talent and Team Building
Most people who write about Paul
touch on his approach to engineering. This " style " is of tremendous
importance, because Paul's impact
on our industry is not simply from
the work he has done (which is
prodigious) but from the impact he
has had on those who have worked
with him or engaged with him in
any way. Paul is universally hailed
as one of the " founding fathers " of
analog IC design at ADI and, by virtue of his conference presence and
publishing, across the industry.
Paul was part of ADI's earliest days
in -semiconductors, and, along with
a some other " keystone technologists " (including Barrie Gilbert), he
created a kind of " talent factory " for
analog IC development. Ray Stata,
ADI founder and chairman, has
noted that " Paul sets the standard
for engineering excellence and for
what is expected from engineers in
a company whose success is driven
by innovation. Paul together with
Barrie Gilbert were the first engineers to be appointed Fellows at
Analog Devices (see Figure 2). Paul
exemplified the behaviors we look
for from Fellows. Many outstanding engineers joined the company
for the opportunity to work with
and learn from Paul. "
As the ADI IC development team
grew around Paul in the 1970s, he
naturally spent some time as an engineering manager. But the mechanics
of organizational operations were
not an effective use of Paul's prodigious talents, so a different approach
was called for. ADI created its " parallel ladder, " which was an opportunity
for technologists to rise to high ranks

based on their technical leadership-all the way to ADI Fellow. Paul
and Barrie Gilbert were ADI's inaugural ADI Fellows, and Paul became
the archetype for the position-a
delightful example of how one could
lead an industry without being anyone's " boss. "
Paul has been one of the primary
architects of ADI's technical culture
and a significant contributor to the
analog solid-state technical community. His influence as mentor has
been profound: hundreds of leading
engineers across our industry have
" Paul Brokaw stories " of how interaction with Paul made them better engineers. Despite his legendary position
in the industry, he has a remarkable
approachability. One enduring image
is of walking by Paul's office at the end
of the day, where he would invariably
be at the whiteboard with one or two
recent hires in rapt attention, hanging on to every precious word. I knew
from my own experiences what such
sessions with Paul were like: there
would be questions, and answers that
invariably lead to more questions,
with lots of " aha " moments.
But sessions with Paul were not
always gentle; the intensity and passion were part of the experience. In
fact, the intensity of the technical
engagements could be so strong that
it became important for all participants to keep an eye on the context.
In 1974, Paul put out a memo on the
principles of the technical review.
The memo laid out Paul's thought
process: it was important for everyone to understand not just the what?
when? and how? but the why? of technical reviews by means of aggressive
questioning and rigorous challenge.
This memo, now almost 50 years
old, is still shared with ADI new hires
today to help them understand the

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IEEE Solid-States Circuits Magazine - Winter 2021

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