IEEE Solid-States Circuits Magazine - Winter 2021 - 20

Paul's desire to understand the fundamental
physical behaviors of silicon drew him into
the domain of solid-state sensors, and his
fingerprints are on some of the industry's
most influential senor products.
importance of technical review and
the traditions of constructively challenging every idea.
Another manifestation of intense
technical engagement for which Paul
has become famous is the job interview. Many industry veterans recall
their " Technical Interview with Paul
Brokaw " as a rite of passage (see
" Further Reading " ), and, for analog
engineers, such an engagement represented the " ultimate challenge " -a
chance to play in the Super Bowl or
World Cup final.
Paul's interviews were not based
on inscrutable trick questions or esoteric minutia. Rather than asking you
a prepared " stumper " question, he
would invite you to talk about your
own work, perhaps an ongoing project, or your thesis research. (Paul was
so good, he was willing to play this
game on your home field.) He would
ask questions, testing your depth
of understanding of the circuit. He
would pose " what if? " scenarios,

such as what would happen if we
made this change or if current was
injected here. The questions would
continue until you hit the point when
your answer was " I don't know ... , "
and that's when the interview would
really start.
For some folks, this sort of engagement was terrifying and exhausting-
something to try to survive. For
others, it was stimulating and thrilling, an addictive adrenaline blast.
For all, it was a learning experience.
Indeed, it was the Brokaw Interview
that persuaded many to work at ADI.
After learning more in a 45-minute
interview with Paul than in some
semester long courses, I realized
exactly where I wanted to work.
As the source of much of ADI's
engineering mindset, Paul frequently
ended up in the role of global
ambassador. When ADI set up an
important development center in
a new region, Paul was part of the
vanguard team that would establish

FIGURE 2: An after-dinner panel at ADI's internal technical conference in 2005. Left to right:
Barrie Gilbert, Paul Brokaw, the author, and ADI Fellow Bill Hunt. (Photo courtesy of Mike
Kennedy.)

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IEEE SOLID-STATE CIRCUITS MAGAZINE

the technical culture at the new site.
This included a tour of duty in Limerick, Ireland, as well as a transfer
to San Jose after ADI's acquisition
of Precision Monolithics Incorporated in 1990. Paul would set himself up in a cubicle in the middle
of the engineering group, ideally
positioned to spread his analog
circuit philosophy, and jump into
the core part of the local development projects.

Industry Impact
Those who have had the privilege of
working with Paul tend to focus on
his insight and innovation, but his
commercial impact has been (and
continues to be) profound. ADI has
realized well over a billion dollars in
revenue from products Paul directly
designed; with even conservative
estimates, this expands to more
than $5 billion for products that he
contributed to through consultation
and direction. As of this writing,
Paul has 217 patents across a variety
of analog circuit topics (67 of these
patents have 10 or more forward
citations, which is a testimony to
the influence of Paul's work).
Paul has been an active contributor to IEEE. He served on the ISSCC
Technical Program Committee from
1997 to 1999. Paul has delivered
five ISSCC papers as a presenter
(five more as coauthor) spanning
three decades, as well as a dozen
other papers for the JSSC and other
IEEE conferences. Paul was elevated
to IEEE Fellow in 1991 and to Life
Fellow in 2005. He organized and
participated on numerous panels
discussing innovation, engineering
approaches, and the " tao " of analog circuit design. In recognition
of his thought leadership on these
principles, the IEEE has established
the Brokaw Award for Circuit Elegance to " enhance appreciation and
encourage innovation of simple,
smart, and elegant circuit design, "
reminding us that even in these days
of ultra-large-scale integration, circuit innovation is still an important
force in our industry (see " The IEEE

IEEE Solid-States Circuits Magazine - Winter 2021

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