Jim Williams at National Semiconductor

Jim Williams worked for National Semiconductor in the Linear Integrated Circuits Group from 1979 to 1982. During this period, he wrote several application notes, but getting a complete list of his app notes is a bit of a mystery hunt. There are several unfortunate (shameful) reasons for this difficulty:
  1. National doesn't always print bylines with author's names on their app notes.
  2. National regularly deletes old app notes from their archives.
  3. National sometimes updates the publication date of their app notes upon revision.
First, it's sad that National doesn't always print author's names on their application notes. Some authors, such as Bob Widlar, received credit for most of the notes they wrote, but I have only found one case where Jim Williams's name was listed on the app note. Insidiously, in that one case (App Note 292), the version printed in the 1986 Linear Applications Handbook has his name on it, while the version currently on National's website has no author listed!

Second, there are a lot of gaps in the numbering sequence. Some of these gaps may be due to application notes that were never written. Some of these gaps are due to National's deletion of old app notes. National has always done this. By the time they printed their first Linear Applications Handbook in 1973, they had already deleted several app notes from 1969. For example, this 1973 table of contents does not include App Note 11. However, I have a loose-leaf copy of App Note 11 (here is a scan of the first page), which may be one of the only copies left in existence. There's really no reason to delete old notes. Some of these app notes are important historical publications and need to be preserved. For example, there ought to be a law that prohibits the deletion of anything that Bob Widlar ever wrote (Jim Williams and Bob Pease, too). Bob Widlar wrote many of National's early app notes, including AN-1, AN-2, AN-3, AN-4, AN-5, AN-8, AN-21, AN-22, and AN-23. Many of those application notes are now very hard to find. (Note that Linear Technology maintains all of their old application notes on their web site. Even App Note 1, which discusses the obsolete LT1005, and App Note 22, which discusses the now-discontinued LT1088, are still available. Linear understands.)

Finally, a minor revision to an application note should not change its date. Revision dates should be distinct from original publication dates. In an archeological dig such as this one, being able to track the app notes by original publication date is essential. Some of the app notes are now dated by when they were revised for the web (a wholly unimportant detail). The original publication dates shown below are mostly from the 1986 Linear Applications Handbook, which separately lists the original dates and the revision dates. The dates on the National website are mostly useless.

Thus, for all of these application notes, I had to infer Jim's authorship based on the right time period and other clues. One reliable clue was the inclusion of photographs of Jim's Tektronix 556 with the damaged graticule. In other cases, I made educated guesses based on Jim's use of references, footnotes, or subject matter. A reference to one of Jim's past publications is a good hint, a footnote discussing the Hewlett Packard HP200 oscillator is a dead giveaway!

The application notes that Jim Williams wrote are

Not bad for three years' work!

There were only a few application notes that I couldn't attribute, listed in the table below as "Anonymous".

Please email me if you have an comments, corrections, or additional information.

Table of App Notes

Here's the complete list of applications notes that overlaps the time that Jim Williams worked for National Semiconductor, with the results of my archeological research and educated guesses.

Number Title Author Date Source Evidence of Authorship
AN-200 CMOS A/D Converter Chips Easily Interface to 8080A Microprocessor Systems Anonymous Mar. 1978 1986 Handbook
AN-201 Missing...
AN-202 A Digital Multimeter Using the ADD3501 Anonymous July 1980 NSC website
AN-203 Missing...
AN-204 Missing...
AN-205 Missing...
AN-206 Missing...
AN-207 Missing...
AN-208 Missing...
AN-209 Missing...
AN-210 New Phase-Locked-Loops Have Advantages as Fequency to Voltage Converters (and more) Robert A. Pease Apr. 1979 NSC website Printed byline
AN-211 New Op Amp Ideas Robert J. Widlar and Mineo Yamatake Dec. 1978 NSC website Printed byline
AN-212 Missing...
AN-213 Appendix H Safe Operating Areas for Peripheral Drivers Bill Fowler July 1986 NSC website Printed byline
AN-214 Transmission Line Drivers and Receivers for TIA/EIA Standards RS-422 and RS-423 John Abbot and John Goldie Aug. 1993 NSC website Printed byline
AN-215 Missing...
AN-216 Summary of Well Known Interface Standards John Goldie July 1998 NSC website Printed byline
AN-217 Missing...
AN-218 Missing...
AN-219 Missing...
AN-220 Missing...
AN-221 Missing...
AN-222 Super Matched Bipolar Transistor Pair Sets New Standards for Drift and Noise Carl T. Nelson July 1979 1980 Handbook Printed byline
AN-223 Missing...
AN-224 Missing...
AN-225 IC Temperature Sensor Provides Thermocouple Cold-Junction Compensation Michael X. Maida Apr. 1979 NSC website Printed byline
AN-226 Missing...
AN-227 Applications of Wide-Band Buffer Amplifiers Jim Sherwin Oct. 1979 NSC website Printed byline
AN-228 Missing...
AN-229 Missing...
AN-230 Missing...
AN-231 Missing...
AN-232 Missing...
AN-233 The A/D Easily Allows Many Unusual Applications Anonymous Jan. 1980 NSC website
AN-234 Missing...
AN-235 A Microprocessor-Controlled Pressure Regulator Duane Tandeske July 1979 1980 Handbook Printed byline
AN-236 An Introduction to the Sampling Theorem Anonymous Jan. 1980 NSC website
AN-237 Convolution: Digital Signal Processing Anonymous Jan. 1980 NSC website
AN-238 Improving Response Time of IC Temperature Transducers Carl Nelson Dec. 1979 1980 Handbook Printed byline
AN-239 Missing...
AN-240 Wide-Range Current-to-Frequency Converters Robert A. Pease May 1980 NSC website Printed byline
AN-241 Working with High Impedance Op Amps Robert J. Widlar Feb. 1980 NSC website Printed byline
AN-242 Applying a New Precision Op Amp Robert J. Widlar and Bob Pease and Mineo Yamatake Apr. 1980 NSC website Printed byline
AN-243 Graphics/Alphanumerics Systems Using the DP8350 Mike Evans July 1986 Google Printed byline
AN-244 Introduction to Practical Fiber Optics Eric Miller May 1980 1986 Handbook Printed byline
AN-245 Application of the ADC1210 CMOS A/D Converter Anonymous June 1986 NSC website
AN-246 Missing...
AN-247 Using the ADC0808/ADC0809 8-bit uP Compatible A/D Converters with 8-Channel Analog Multiplexer Larry Wakeman Sep. 1980 NSC website Printed byline
AN-248 Missing...
AN-249 Missing...
AN-250 Missing...
AN-251 Missing...
AN-252 Speech Synthesis Jim Smith and Dave Weinrich Dec. 1980 1986 Handbook Printed byline
AN-253 LH0024 and LH0032 High Speed Op Amp Applications Anonymous Jan. 1982 NSC website
AN-254 Missing...
AN-255 Power Spectra Estimation Anonymous Nov. 1980 NSC website
AN-256 Circuitry for Inexpensive Relative Humidity Measurement Jim Williams Aug. 1981 NSC website Self reference
AN-257 Missing...
AN-258 Data Acquisition Using the ADC0816 and ADC0817 8-bit A/D Converter with On-Chip 16 Channel Analog Multiplexer Larry Wakeman Jan. 1981 NSC website Printed byline
AN-259 DS3662 -- The Bus Optimizer R. V. Balakrishnan Apr. 1981 NSC website Printed byline
AN-260 A 20-bit (1 ppm) Linear Slope-Integrating A/D Converter Jim Williams Jan. 1981 NSC website Self reference
AN-261 Low Distortion Wideband Power Op Amp Anonymous July 1981 NSC website
AN-262 Applying Dual and Quad FET Op Amps Jim Williams May 1981 NSC website Jim's Tek 556
AN-263 Sine Wave Generation Techniques Jim Williams Mar. 1981 NSC website Footnote
AN-264 Applications of Audio Amplifier--Transistor Array ICs Jim Williams May 1981 1986 Handbook Jim's Tek 556
AN-265 An Electronic Watt-Watt-Hour Meter Jim Williams Feb. 1984 NSC website Jim's Tek 556
AN-266 Circuit Applications of Sample-Hold Amplifiers Jim Williams Jan. 1981 NSC website Jim's Tek 556
AN-267 Missing...
AN-268 Missing...
AN-269 Circuit Applications of Multiplying CMOS D to A Converters Jim Williams Sep. 1981 NSC website Jim's Tek 556
AN-270 Software Design for a 38.4 kbaud Data Terminal Wong Hee and Nick Samaras Feb. 1982 Google Printed byline
AN-271 Applying the New CMOS MICRO-DAC Tim Regan Sep. 1981 NSC website Printed byline
AN-272 Op Amp Booster Designs Jim Williams Sep. 1981 NSC website Jim's Tek 556
AN-273 Missing...
AN-274 CMOS A/D Converter Interfaces Easily with Many Microprocessors Thomas Frederiksen July 1981 NSC website Printed byline
AN-275 CMOS D/A Converters Match Most Microprocessors Thomas M. Frederiksen and James B. Cecil July 1981 NSC website Printed byline
AN-276 A New, Low-Cost, Sampled-Data, CMOS A/D Converter Sing W. Chin July 1981 NSC website Printed byline
AN-277 The New MICRO-DAC Product Line for Microprocessor Systems James B. Cecil July 1981 NSC website Printed byline
AN-278 Designing with a New Super Fast Dual Norton Amplifier Timothy T. Regan Sep. 1981 NSC website Printed byline
AN-279 Missing...
AN-280 A/D Converters Easily Interface with 70 Series Microprocessors Jim Chiang Nov. 1981 NSC website Printed byline
AN-281 Data Acquisition Using INS8048 Daniel Hagerty Nov. 1981 NSC website Printed byline
AN-282 Missing...
AN-283 Missing...
AN-284 Single-Supply Applications of CMOS MICRODACs Tim Regan Sep. 1981 NSC website Printed byline
AN-285 An Acoustic Transformer Powered Super-High Isolation Amplifier Jim Williams Oct. 1981 NSC website Jim's Tek 556
AN-286 Applications of the LM392 Comparator Op Amp IC Jim Williams Sep. 1981 NSC website None
AN-287 Voice Recording Techniques for Speech Synthesis Neil Murphy Sep. 1982 1986 Handbook Printed byline
AN-288 System-Oriented DC-DC Conversion Techniques Jim Williams Apr. 1982 NSC website Jim's Tek 556
AN-289 Circuit Applications of Analog Data Multiplexers Jim Williams Jan. 1982 1986 Handbook Jim's Tek 556
AN-290 Missing...
AN-291 Missing...
AN-292 Applications of the LM3524 Pulse-Width-Modulator Jim Williams Aug. 1982 NSC website Printed byline
AN-293 Control Applications of CMOS DACs Jim Williams Mar. 1982 NSC website Jim's Tek 556
AN-294 Special Sample and Hold Techniques Jim Williams Apr. 1982 NSC website Jim's Tek 556
AN-295 A High Performance Industrial Weighing System Jim Williams Mar. 1982 NSC website Jim's Tek 556
AN-296 Missing...
AN-297 Missing...
AN-298 Isolation Techniques for Signal Conditioning Jim Williams May 1982 NSC website Jim's Tek 556
AN-299 Audio Applications of Linear Integrated Circuits Jim Williams Apr. 1982 NSC website Jim's Tek 556
AN-300 Simple Circuit Detects Loss of 4-20 mA Signal Robert A. Pease May 1982 NSC website Printed byline
AN-301 Signal Conditioning for Sophisicated Transducers Jim Williams Jan. 1982 NSC website Jim's Tek 556
AN-302 The DP8400 Family of Memory Interface Circuits Charles Carinalli and Mike Evans Feb. 1986 Google Printed byline
AN-303 Missing...
AN-304 Missing...
AN-305 Precautions to Take When Driving Memories Mike Evans Feb. 1986 NSC website Printed byline
AN-306 Missing...
AN-307 Introducing the MF10: A Versatile Monolithic Asctive Filter Building Block Tim Regan Aug. 1982 NSC website Printed byline
AN-308 Missing...
AN-309 Interfacing the DP8408A/09A to various Microprocessors Chuck Pham and Webster Rusty Meier May 1986 Google Printed byline
AN-310 Missing...
AN-311 Theory and Applications of Logarithmic Amplifiers Jim Williams July 1982 NSC website Jim's Tek 556
AN-312 Missing...
AN-313 Missing...
AN-314 Missing...
AN-315 Missing...
AN-316 The Subscriber Line Card in a Distributed Control Switching System James W. Smith Aug. 1982 NSC website Printed byline
AN-317 Missing...
AN-318 Missing...
AN-319 Missing...
AN-320 Missing...
AN-321 Missing...
AN-322 Missing...
AN-323 Missing...
AN-324 Missing...
AN-325 Missing...
AN-326 A Users Guide to COPS Oscillator Operation Jim Murashige Apr. 1983 Google Printed byline
AN-327 Missing...
AN-328 Missing...
AN-329 Implementing an 8-Bit Buffer in COPS David Pointer Apr. 1983 NSC website Printed byline
AN-330 Missing...

References

Written 28 July 2011 by Kent Lundberg.
Last updated at 07:11 on Saturday, 20 Aug. 2011.