555 timer IC
Circuito integrado temporizador 555
- Date
- 1971 · confidence high
- Place
- Signetics, Sunnyvale, California, United States
- Credited to
- Hans Camenzind
- Field
- Matter & energy
What it is
Building on his work with phase-locked-loop oscillators, Camenzind designed for Signetics a universal timer on a single 8-pin chip; it probably became the best-selling integrated circuit in history, with thousands of applications its own creator never anticipated.
What it led to
- Widespread cheap timers and oscillators in consumer electronics
- Decades of electronics education and hobbyist projects built around the 555