A JSSC classic paper: The Gilbert cell (continued from January 2003 issue)

In the last column about the genesis of the first translinear multiplier “core,” an attempt was made to capture the series of events that led up to its discovery. Here, that account is aided by presenting the actual circuit forms, and is extended by a discussion of the reasons for its importance when it was first reported at the 1968 ISSCC and in two linked articles in the December 1968 JSSC, “A new wide-band amplifier technique,” and in the fifth most cited article in the JSSC, “A precise four-quadrant multiplier with subnano-second response.” Also, an explanation of its continued value during the intervening thirty-five years to the present is given.