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Linear Technology: 30 Years and more to come
Founded 30 years ago, Linear Technology commemorated three decades of innovation in analog integrated circuits.
Founded in September 1981, at the dawn of the digital revolution, some questioned the wisdom of founding a company focused purely on analog technology. Over these 30 years, the worldwide analog market has grown from USD 2 billion to over USD 40 billion today, and Linear has prospered with that growth.
Bob Swanson, Executive Chairman and Co-founder, stated, “Our steadfast commitment to product innovation over three decades has enabled Linear to grow and prosper, independent of which end-markets were driving demand at any given time.”
Bob Dobkin, Vice President, Engineering, Chief Technical Officer and Co-Founder added, “Thirty years of innovative products from an innovative engineering team has been validated by the acceptance of Linear Technology in the marketplace.”
Lothar Maier, Chief Executive Officer, stated, “It’s fitting that this is Linear’s 30th anniversary as well as the company’s best year yet.”
A select list of these Linear innovations:
1982 - Industry standard precision op amps
1986 - Highest stability precision voltage reference
1986 - LT1070 – First 5A single chip easy-to-use switching regulator
1989 - First CMOS low power RS485 chip (LTC485)
1992 - Hot Swap family
1993 - Burst Mode DC/DC converters
1999 - High efficiency, multiphase synchronous switching regulators
2001 - Power over Ethernet (PoE) controllers
2002 - First buck-boost regulators
2005 - High linearity active mixers with on-chip transformer
2005 - First high speed 16-Bit ADC with 100dB SFDR
2006 - µModule DC/DC converters
2007 - LT3080 – First single resistor adjustable linear regulator
2008 - First precision battery monitor device for hybrid/electric vehicles
2009 - Digital power management monitors & controllers
2010 - Energy harvesting 20mV input boost/power manager
2011 - First 18-Bit, 1Msps SAR ADC with 102dB SNR