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I
n hindsight, it sometimes seems that a great invention all of the blocks for a switching power supply together on one
evolved so logically from the existing technology and chip. The main reason we did it was that we had a customer
so clearly answered pressing needs that its develop- that was interested.”
ment was “inevitable.” That very word is the one Bob That customer was Teletype Corp. of Skokie, Ill. Teletype
Mammano uses to describe the creation of the first was in the process of converting its big mechanical teletype
pulse-width modulation (PWM) controller—the SG1524— machines into electronic versions. The new teletype designs
that he designed at Silicon General in 1975. didn’t have much space for a power supply, so they needed
After all, switching power supplies (also known as a switching power supply. But even then, they didn’t have
switchers or switched-mode power supplies [SMPSs]) were room for all of the discrete components required in the com-
being built using discrete components at least as far back as plicated control circuitry of a switcher. Although Teletype
the 1950s. And by the early 1970s, some of the individual had tried to build a switcher using a hybrid product, that
analog and digital functions needed to perform PWM—the approach was very expensive. “They were convinced that if
control technique commonly used to regulate the output someone could do it all for them in a single silicon chip, it
of the switching power supply—were becoming available would help them a lot,” says Mammano.
in IC form. So Teletype asked Silicon General to build a single IC that
“An accident in time” is another way Mammano describes would integrate the control functions for a switching power
the development of the SG1524. “Everybody knew that supply. When presented with this request, Mammano and his
switchers were a potential marketplace,” says Mammano. “It’s colleagues determined that there were no inherent reasons
just that [Silicon General] managed to get there first.” why these functions could not be integrated on chip. “All the
Mammano recalls that both Motorola and Fairchild had individual blocks seemed compatible. That’s why I say it was
early versions of ICs that might be used in the switching inevitable,” explained Mammano.
power supply application. Another chipmaker, Signetics, had However, such an assessment belies the fact there were
introduced the 555 timer and some engineers were using that serious technical challenges in putting all the PWM control
part in switching power supply designs. circuitry on a single chip. At that point in time, integrated
However, Mammano observes, “No one had actually put circuit design fell into two neatly divided camps—analog and
Photography by MISA/misaphoto.com