In Memoriam -- Derek F Bowers -- 9th-Dec-1954 to 25-June-2025
It is with great sadness that the team at Sound Semiconductor Inc announces the loss of our highly-respected Director of IC Engineering Derek F Bowers. A seasoned veteran of the analog semiconductor industry Derek spent the last few years designing ICs for music creation, a subject close to his heart.
A keen multi-instrumentalist Derek was always thinking about how to make, shape and process audio, be it oscillators, amplifiers, microphone preamps, dynamics processors, and so on. With a rich history going back to the early days of Solid State Music (SSM) with the likes of Ron Dow and Dan Parks, Precision Monolithics (PMI) where he designed the AMP01 among many other famous parts, Analog Devices (ADI) where he became a Fellow in 1991, and finally Sound Semiconductor (SSI), Derek has been involved in the design of many influential ICs, often carrying his “DFB” initials. He designed many of the early single-chip mic preamps including the SSM2016, the SSM2017, and the SSM2019, dynamics processors SSM2120 and SSM2122, matched transistors like the MAT-04, DACs, opamps, comparators, voltage references, RMS-to-DC converters, multipliers, audio noise reduction systems, and many more areas of analog technology, all backed by a swathe of patents, academic papers, and book chapters. At ADI Derek designed the classic SSM2164 quad VCA. When SSI started he brought that design up-to-date as the SSI2164, and went on to design the SSI2130 VCO and many other devices in collaboration with the team.
Derek was very much a larger-than-life character, full of humour and jest. He had a world-class knowledge of transistors and IC design and fabrication, a down-to-earth attitude and always striving for better. He was instrumental in the development of the VBIC95 transistor model, as well as opamp macromodels far beyond the limits of the classic Boyle model. Derek had an insatiable curiosity of EVERYTHING. Not only was he interested in circuits and physics, but any scientific topic, trying to ferret out any supposed “facts” that really weren’t accurate in the modern understanding. He studied at Sheffield University, UK, before taking a PhD at Imperial College, London.
Derek was one of the founders of the Duke of Edinburgh pub in Silicon Valley, bringing his love of British beer to an unsuspecting American crowd and much joy to the local British expats. He was also a founder of the Analog Aficionados club, which often held their annual event at "The Duke".
Derek leaves behind his wife Noni, son and daughter, and a lasting legacy of analog ICs bringing joy to many.
Godspeed our friend.
-- SSI --
It is with great sadness that the team at Sound Semiconductor Inc announces the loss of our highly-respected Director of IC Engineering Derek F Bowers. A seasoned veteran of the analog semiconductor industry Derek spent the last few years designing ICs for music creation, a subject close to his heart.
A keen multi-instrumentalist Derek was always thinking about how to make, shape and process audio, be it oscillators, amplifiers, microphone preamps, dynamics processors, and so on. With a rich history going back to the early days of Solid State Music (SSM) with the likes of Ron Dow and Dan Parks, Precision Monolithics (PMI) where he designed the AMP01 among many other famous parts, Analog Devices (ADI) where he became a Fellow in 1991, and finally Sound Semiconductor (SSI), Derek has been involved in the design of many influential ICs, often carrying his “DFB” initials. He designed many of the early single-chip mic preamps including the SSM2016, the SSM2017, and the SSM2019, dynamics processors SSM2120 and SSM2122, matched transistors like the MAT-04, DACs, opamps, comparators, voltage references, RMS-to-DC converters, multipliers, audio noise reduction systems, and many more areas of analog technology, all backed by a swathe of patents, academic papers, and book chapters. At ADI Derek designed the classic SSM2164 quad VCA. When SSI started he brought that design up-to-date as the SSI2164, and went on to design the SSI2130 VCO and many other devices in collaboration with the team.
Derek was very much a larger-than-life character, full of humour and jest. He had a world-class knowledge of transistors and IC design and fabrication, a down-to-earth attitude and always striving for better. He was instrumental in the development of the VBIC95 transistor model, as well as opamp macromodels far beyond the limits of the classic Boyle model. Derek had an insatiable curiosity of EVERYTHING. Not only was he interested in circuits and physics, but any scientific topic, trying to ferret out any supposed “facts” that really weren’t accurate in the modern understanding. He studied at Sheffield University, UK, before taking a PhD at Imperial College, London.
Derek was one of the founders of the Duke of Edinburgh pub in Silicon Valley, bringing his love of British beer to an unsuspecting American crowd and much joy to the local British expats. He was also a founder of the Analog Aficionados club, which often held their annual event at "The Duke".
Derek leaves behind his wife Noni, son and daughter, and a lasting legacy of analog ICs bringing joy to many.
Godspeed our friend.
-- SSI --
