Electronic Arrays, Inc. was a United States integrated circuit (IC) manufacturer of the 1960s and 1970s. The company originated when Jim McMullen and other employees of General Microelectronics left to form McMullen Associates, which was later renamed Electronic Arrays, Inc. in 1967.
They were best known for their series of electronic calculator chipsets, starting in 1970 with the EAS100 four-function calculator.[1] Implemented in six chips, rapid improvements in semiconductor fabrication allowed them to progressively combine them in versions with five, four, two and finally a single chip. Although the EAS series was successful for a time, other vendors with more advanced processes entered the market and introduced single-chip systems before Electronic Arrays' own versions. They lost market share to companies like Mostek and Texas Instruments, and later to a slew of Japanese companies entering the market, including Hitachi, NEC, and Toshiba.
The company attempted to change markets with the Electronic Arrays 9002, an 8-bit NMOS logic microprocessor released in 1976. The company struggled with production issues and gave up marketing the design in November 1977.[2][3][4] The company was sold to NEC in 1978.[5]
Further reading
References
- U. S. fires first shot at Japanese calculator lead Electronics, McGraw-Hill, February 15, 1971^
- Electronic Arrays Microelectronics Newsletter, Integrated Circuit Engineering Corporation, September 18, 1976, retrieved 2018-06-12^
- Don C. Hoefler. Setbacks Microelectronics News with Manager's Casebook, September 18, 1976^
- Robert Cushman. EDN's Fourth Annual Microprocessor Directory EDN, 20 November 1977, retrieved 23 June 2018^
- Nippon Merges U.S. Arms, Forms NEC Electronics Computerworld, April 20, 1981^
- <ref name=Cushman> Robert H. Cushman. 2-1/2 Generation μP's – $10 Parts That Perform Like Low-End Mini's EDN, Cahners Publishing, September 20, 1975, retrieved June 12, 2018^