Channel: Computer History Museum

Category: Science & Technology

Description: Interviewed by Gunter Steinbach on 2021-05-13 in Palo Alto, CA © Computer History Museum Ken Poulton obtained a Bachelor's degree in Physics and a Master's in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University. He joined Hewlett-Packard Labs and has been working in the same department for 40+ years, although the department was spun off twice, in 1999 into Agilent Technologies and in 2014 into Keysight Technologies. Most of his work has been in the field of integrated-circuit data (analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog) converters for measurement instruments like digital oscilloscopes, mass spectrometers, and direct-to-RF spectrum analyzers and signal generators. Up to the late 1990s data converters for digital oscilloscopes were implemented in the fastest bipolar technologies available but Ken and his team drove the switch to CMOS. Because CMOS integrated circuits are slower and less precise than bipolar, the breakthrough principle that made them useful was a massively parallel architecture, time interleaving many dozens of identical ADCs, and using sophisticated analog and digital error correction to recover the precision needed for high-end instruments. * Note: Transcripts represent what was said in the interview. However, to enhance meaning or add clarification, interviewees have the opportunity to modify this text afterward. This may result in discrepancies between the transcript and the video. Please refer to the transcript for further information - computerhistory.org/collections/catalog/102792191 Visit computerhistory.org/collections/oralhistories for more information about the Computer History Museum's Oral History Collection. Catalog Number: 102792192 Lot Number: X9479.2021