Eric John Swanson

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Eric John Swanson
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BornAugust 16, 1956
United States
DiedOctober 14, 2014
United States
EducationBSEE, Michigan State University, 1977
Alma materCaltech (MSEE)
OccupationElectrical engineer, inventor
Known forContributions to switched-capacitor circuits, mixed-signal integrated circuits, and high-resolution data-converter design
Notable work
Comparator-recovery architecture (U.S. Patent 5,247,210)

Eric John Swanson (August 16, 1956 – October 14, 2014) was an American electrical engineer and inventor known for his contributions to switched-capacitor circuits, mixed-signal integrated circuits and high-resolution data-converter design. He held senior technical leadership roles at Bell Laboratories, Crystal Semiconductor and Cirrus Logic, where his work on delta-sigma data conversion and mixed-signal architecture was incorporated into commercial integrated circuits.

Swanson was the author of numerous technical papers and patents in analog and mixed-signal design. His work was cited extensively in subsequent engineering literature and patent filings.

Education

Swanson earned a BSEE from Michigan State University in 1977 and an MSEE from the California Institute of Technology in 1980.[1]

One of his professors, John Choma, acknowledged Swanson in the foreword to his textbook, writing:[2]

"...some, by virtue of their unusually strong support, interest, and ultimate friendship, deserve to be acknowledged. These are ...Eric Swanson...

Career

Bell Laboratories

Eric worked at Bell Labs from 1980 to 1985. At Bell, he was granted six solo patents,[3] one of which (US 4518926) has been referenced as prior art in 66 later patents.

Crystal Semiconductor/Cirrus Logic

Swanson joined Crystal Semiconductor in Austin, Texas,[4] where he became principal engineer. A 1994 article in the Austin American-Statesman discussed Swanson’s role in Crystal Semiconductor’s patent strategy during a period of rapid growth.[5] In 1990 he was listed as VP Technology for Crystal Semiconductor in the DataQuest/ D&B "decade of semiconductor start ups".[6] In March, 1998, he was named CTO[7] following the company's integration into Cirrus Logic.[8][9] At Crystal Semiconductor and Cirrus Logic, he received 59 patents.[10] Five of these have been cited more than 100 times.[11]

One of Swanson's inventions was the comparator-recovery architecture described in U.S. Patent 5,247,210, based on a priority chain beginning in 1986, which addressed MOS memory effects.[12] The patent family was filed in 1986, with continuations in 1988, 1989, and 1990, and finally issued in 1993. Swanson later published a detailed analysis of MOS memory effects and comparator behavior in a chapter of The Art and Science of Analog Circuit Design.[13] In that chapter, Swanson wrote that the comparator-recovery and MOS-memory-flush techniques were used in Crystal Semiconductor's CS5016 data converters, noting that the company had "shipped a lot of product with flushed MOSFETs."[14]

Swanson's U.S. Patent 4746899 was one of the patents asserted in Crystal Semiconductor Corp. v. TriTech Microelectronics, a lawsuit between Cirrus Logic's Crystal subsidiary and TriTech, in which a jury initially awarded US$34,929,379 in damages.[15] This patent details the management of analog and digital clocking in mixed-signal design. A report in EDN described the award as US$48.5 million.[16]

Swanson also authored several technical papers on oversampled data converters and MOS analog behavior.[17]

A 1994 article in the Austin American-Statesman on Austin's patent activity identified Eric Swanson, then vice president of technology at Crystal Semiconductor, as a key contributor to the company's intellectual-property strategy. The article reported that Swanson attributed significant value to Crystal Semiconductor's patent portfolio, stating that the company's patents were worth nearly as much as Cirrus Logic's acquisition price for Crystal Semiconductor, and quoted him on the strategic importance of patents. The coverage placed Swanson's work in the context of Austin's emergence as a major center for microelectronics research and IP generation.[18]

Following his position at Crystal Semiconductor and Cirrus Logic, Swanson was named a technical fellow at Oasis SiliconSystems in 2002, a German semiconductor company.[19]He subsequently worked as a consultant and adjunct professor of engineering at the University of Texas at Austin. He later returned to Cirrus Logic as a technical fellow.[20]

Technical contributions

Eric held sixty-five U.S. patents, primarily in analog-to-digital conversion, comparator design, and mixed-signal systems.[21] As of 2026, his IEEE papers had been cited a total of 290 times,[22] and his patents had been cited 2,493 times.[23]

According to Jim Williams, "His development experience includes millions of CMOS transistors, a few dozen bipolar transistors, and nary a vacuum tube."[24]

Teaching and Mentoring

Eric taught mixed-signal system design at the University of Texas at Austin for 13 years[8] as part of the ECE graduate curriculum.[25] In 2003, Swanson was described in the Austin American-Statesman as collaborating with colleagues to develop an IC design course at the University of Texas. The course emphasized full-cycle integrated circuit design, with selected projects presented to companies for potential commercialization.[26]

One of the engineers he managed was Nav Sooch, founder of Silicon Laboratories.[27]

An endowed scholarship in electrical engineering at the University of Texas at Austin was established in memory of Eric J. Swanson, and appears in official UT Austin Restricted Current Funds for Gifts records.[28][17]

Eric was an author of chapter 15 of "The Art and Science of Analog Circuit design"[29] edited by Jim Williams. This chapter is a detailed dive into the physics and lab work of MOS memory effects. The book also contains a biography.

IEEE

Swanson authored ten IEEE publications,[30] including a conference publication on the history of monolithic data conversion.[31]

In the history of monolithic data conversion, Swanson wrote: "Commercial analog integrated circuits crossed the VLSI threshold of 10,000 transistors back in 1984. Today's analog VLSI circuits routinely surpass the million transistor complexity level. This Moore's Law increase in integration, combined with the analog designer's tradition of cleverness, is responsible for most of the decade's performance improvement in state-of-the-art data converters."

Swanson participated in panels at the IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC). In 2013 he appeared on a panel alongside Michael Flynn, Sanroku Tsukamoto, Marcel Pelgrom, Beomsup Kim, Ali Hajimiri and Behzad Razavi.[32]

He also spoke on a panel titled "The Engineer of 2020" during the IEEE 125th Anniversary celebration at the University of Texas at Austin.[33]

His paper on 20-bit data converters[34] was cited by David Robertson as "pushing the frontier of precision using a non-precision process technology."[35]

His paper on echo cancellation[36] was cited by Thomas Lee as "Moore's law continued to work its magic throughout the 1980s."[37]

Other IEEE publications:

"A 5 V, 118 dB spl Sigma Delta analog-to digital converter for wideband digital audio", cited 20 times[38]

"Analog VLSI Data Converters - The First 10 Years," cited 2 times[39]

"A 126 dB linear switched-capacitor delta-sigma modulator", cited 28 times[40]

"A single-chip stereo audio codec", cited 7 times[41]

"A monolithic 20-b delta-sigma A/D converter", cited 91 times[42]

"A monolithic 20 b delta-sigma A/D converter", cited 14 times[43]

"A 12-bit, 1-MHz, two-step flash ADC", cited 37 times[44]

"A 50-Mbit/s CMOS monolithic optical receiver", cited 41 times[45]

"A 667 ns, 12-bit two-step flash ADC", cited 4 times[46]

"Measurement and modeling of charge feedthrough in n-channel MOS analog switches", cited 46 times[47]

Death

Swanson died unexpectedly on October 14, 2014.[48] Following his death, colleagues and former coworkers described him as a central technical figure in Cirrus Logic and a mentor within the analog and mixed-signal design community.[49]

Bob Morley, reflecting on Swanson's impact, wrote that his death was “a tragic loss,” noting that when teaching delta-sigma data converters he would henceforth say that he *knew* one of the greats of the field, rather than that he *knows* one.[49]

References

  1. ↑ "Obituary information for Eric John Swanson". www.harrellfuneralhomes.com. Retrieved 2026-01-15.
  2. ↑ Choma, John (1985). Electrical networks: theory and analysis. A Wiley-Interscience publication. New York: Wiley. pp. n15. ISBN 978-0-471-08528-7.
  3. ↑ "Results The Lens - Patent and Scholarly Search and Analysis". The Lens - Patent and Scholarly Search and Analysis. Retrieved 2026-01-16.
  4. ↑ EETimes (2003-10-06). "Old friends take new directions". EE Times. Retrieved 2026-01-14.
  5. ↑ Ladendorf, Kirk (1994-07-25). "Protecting the BRAINCHILD". Newspapers.com. Retrieved 2026-01-21.
  6. ↑ DataQuest (1990-01-01). "A Decade of Semiconductor Start-Ups" (PDF). Dataquest Reports: 161–163.
  7. ↑ "1999 Cirrus Logic form 10-K" (PDF). cloudfront. 1999-03-27. Retrieved 2025-12-01.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 "Obituary: Eric John Swanson". Harrell Funeral Homes. 2014.
  9. ↑ EETimes (2003-10-06). "Old friends take new directions". EE Times. Retrieved 2025-12-02.
  10. ↑ "Results The Lens - Patent and Scholarly Search and Analysis". The Lens - Patent and Scholarly Search and Analysis. Retrieved 2025-12-02.
  11. ↑ "The Lens - patent analysis". The Lens - Patent and Scholarly Search and Analysis. Retrieved 2026-01-16.
  12. ↑ US 5247210, "Method and circuitry for decreasing the recovery time of an MOS differential voltage comparator", issued 1993-09-21 
  13. ↑ Williams, Jim (1995). Williams, Jim (ed.). The art and science of analog circuit design. EDN series for design engineers. Boston: Butterworth-Heinemann. pp. 251–261. ISBN 978-0-7506-9505-3.
  14. ↑ Williams, Jim (1995). Williams, Jim (ed.). The art and science of analog circuit design. EDN series for design engineers. Boston: Butterworth-Heinemann. p. 257. ISBN 978-0-7506-9505-3.
  15. ↑ "Crystal Semiconductor Corporation, Plaintiff-appellant, v. Tritech Microelectronics International, Inc. and Tritech Microelectronics International Pte Ltd., Defendants-cross Appellants, and Opti, Inc., Defendant, 246 F.3d 1336 (Fed. Cir. 2001)". Justia Law. Archived from the original on 2015-09-24. Retrieved 2026-01-14.
  16. ↑ Williams, Jim, ed. (1995). The art and science of analog circuit design. The EDN series for design engineers. Boston: Butterworth-Heinemann. p. 257. ISBN 978-0-7506-9505-3.
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 "Eric Swanson 1956-2014 | Texas ECE - Electrical & Computer Engineering at UT Austin". www.ece.utexas.edu. 2014-10-22. Retrieved 2025-12-02.
  18. ↑ Ladendorf, Kirk (1994-07-25). "Protecting the BRAINCHILD - Austin ranks among the world's most active sites for patent awards - and shows no signs of slowing". Austin American Statesman. pp. C1.
  19. ↑ Cowles, Ginger (2002-04-03). "On the move". Austin American Statesman.
  20. ↑ "Up the ladder". Austin-American Statesman. 2007-11-07. pp. D04.
  21. ↑ "Results The Lens - Patent and Scholarly Search and Analysis". The Lens - Patent and Scholarly Search and Analysis. Retrieved 2026-01-16.
  22. ↑ "IEEE Xplore Search Results". ieeexplore.ieee.org. Retrieved 2026-01-16.
  23. ↑ "Results The Lens - Patent and Scholarly Search and Analysis". The Lens - Patent and Scholarly Search and Analysis. Retrieved 2026-01-16.
  24. ↑ Williams, Jim (1995). Williams, Jim (ed.). The art and science of analog circuit design. EDN series for design engineers. Boston: Butterworth-Heinemann. pp. xiv. ISBN 978-0-7506-9505-3.
  25. ↑ "ECE Graduate Curriculum – Mixed-Signal System Design and Modeling" (PDF). University of Texas at Austin. UT ECE. Retrieved 2026-01-14.
  26. ↑ Ladendorf, Kirk (May 12, 2003). "In Search of Tomorrow's Chips: Industry Maverick Develops Ideas at UT, Ponders New Startup". Austin American-Statesman.
  27. ↑ Arensman, Russ (2003-06-01). "Mixed-signal designers find the right mix". EDN. Retrieved 2025-12-02.
  28. ↑ "The University of Texas at Austin Operating Budget" (PDF). UT operating budget for year ending 2021. 2020-08-20. Retrieved 2026-01-14.
  29. ↑ Swanson, Eric (1995). Williams, Jim (ed.). The art and science of analog circuit design. The EDN series for design engineers. Boston: Butterworth-Heinemann. pp. 251–261. ISBN 978-0-7506-9505-3.
  30. ↑ "IEEE author page". ieeexplore.ieee.org. Retrieved 2025-12-02.
  31. ↑ Swanson, Eric J. (1995-09-01). "Analog VLSI Data Converters - The First 10 Years". ESSCIRC '95: Twenty-first European Solid-State Circuits Conference: 25–29.
  32. ↑ Updates, Fidelis News & (2013-03-18). "ISSCC 2013: Thanks for the Humor". Fidelis. Retrieved 2025-12-04.
  33. ↑ "IEEE 125th Anniversary Celebration | Texas ECE - Electrical & Computer Engineering at UT Austin". www.ece.utexas.edu. 2009-05-01. Retrieved 2026-01-14.
  34. ↑ DelSignore, B.; Kerth, D.; Sooch, N.; Swanson, E. (1990). "A monolithic 20 b delta-sigma A/D converter". 1990 37th IEEE International Conference on Solid-State Circuits. IEEE. pp. 170–171. doi:10.1109/isscc.1990.110181.
  35. ↑ Robertson, David (2003). 50 Years of Analog Development at ISSCC (PDF). Digest of technical papers / IEEE International Solid State Circuits Conference. Piscataway, NJ: IEEE. pp. s17. ISBN 978-0-7803-7707-3.
  36. ↑ Swanson, E.; Starke, R.; Cross, G.; Olson, K.; Waldron, C.; Vera, A.; Copeland, R.; Surek, S.; Ribble, R. (1983). "A fully adaptive transversal canceler and equalizer chip". 1983 IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference. Digest of Technical Papers. IEEE. pp. 20–21. doi:10.1109/isscc.1983.1156553.
  37. ↑ Lee, Thomas (2003). 50 Years of Communication Circuits at ISSCC (PDF). Digest of technical papers / IEEE International Solid State Circuits Conference. Piscataway, NJ: IEEE. pp. s19. ISBN 978-0-7803-7707-3.
  38. ↑ Leung, K.Y.; Swanson, E.J.; Kafai Leung; Zhu, S.S. (1997). "A 5 V, 118 dB ΣΔ analog-to digital converter for wideband digital audio". 1997 IEEE International Solids-State Circuits Conference. Digest of Technical Papers. IEEE. pp. 218–219. doi:10.1109/ISSCC.1997.585340. ISBN 978-0-7803-3721-3.
  39. ↑ Swanson, Eric (1995). "Analog VLSI Data Converters - The First 10 Years". " ESSCIRC '95: Twenty-first European Solid-State Circuits Conference, Lille, France: 25–29.
  40. ↑ Kerth, D.A.; Kasha, D.B.; Mellissinos, T.G.; Piasecki, D.S.; Swanson, E.J. (February 1994). "A 126 dB linear switched-capacitor delta-sigma modulator". Proceedings of IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference - ISSCC '94. pp. 196–197. doi:10.1109/ISSCC.1994.344672. ISBN 0-7803-1844-7.
  41. ↑ Hamashita, K.; Swanson, E. (May 1993). "A single-chip stereo audio codec". Proceedings of IEEE Custom Integrated Circuits Conference - CICC '93. pp. 28.4.1–28.4.4. doi:10.1109/CICC.1993.590813. ISBN 0-7803-0826-3.
  42. ↑ Del Signore, B.P.; Kerth, D.A.; Sooch, N.S.; Swanson, E.J. (December 1990). "A monolithic 2-b delta-sigma A/D converter". IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits. 25 (6): 1311–1317. Bibcode:1990IJSSC..25.1311D. doi:10.1109/4.62174. ISSN 1558-173X.
  43. ↑ DelSignore, B.; Kerth, D.; Sooch, N.; Swanson, E. (February 1990). "A monolithic 20 b delta-sigma A/D converter". 1990 37th IEEE International Conference on Solid-State Circuits. pp. 170–171. doi:10.1109/ISSCC.1990.110181.
  44. ↑ Kerth, D.A.; Sooch, N.S.; Swanson, E.J. (April 1989). "A 12-bit, 1-MHz, two-step flash ADC". IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits. 24 (2): 250–255. Bibcode:1989IJSSC..24..250K. doi:10.1109/4.18583. ISSN 1558-173X.
  45. ↑ Pietruszynski, D.M.; Steininger, J.M.; Swanson, E.J. (December 1988). "A 50-Mbit/s CMOS monolithic optical receiver". IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits. 23 (6): 1426–1433. Bibcode:1988IJSSC..23.1426P. doi:10.1109/4.90042. ISSN 1558-173X.
  46. ↑ Kerth, D.A.; Sooch, N.S.; Swanson, E.J. (May 1988). "A 667 ns, 12-bit two-step flash ADC". Proceedings of the IEEE 1988 Custom Integrated Circuits Conference. pp. 18.5/1–18.5/4. doi:10.1109/CICC.1988.20893.
  47. ↑ Wilson, W.B.; Massoud, H.Z.; Swanson, E.J.; George, R.T.; Fair, R.B. (December 1985). "Measurement and modeling of charge feedthrough in n-channel MOS analog switches". IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits. 20 (6): 1206–1213. Bibcode:1985IJSSC..20.1206W. doi:10.1109/JSSC.1985.1052460. ISSN 1558-173X.
  48. ↑ "Eric John Swanson". Hays Free Press and News-Dispatch. 2014-10-22. Retrieved 2025-12-03.
  49. ↑ 49.0 49.1 admin (2014-10-21). "Eric SWANSON Obituary - Death Notice and Service Information". Legacy.com. Retrieved 2025-12-02.

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