John Millard Caywood

Title: John Millard Caywood: Semiconductor Memory and Signal-Processing Inventor

Introduction

John Millard Caywood is an inventor associated with Richardson, Texas, and Texas Instruments Corporation. His work includes patented technologies for charge-coupled-device memory and signal processing. His patent portfolio includes 4 patents.

Latest Patents

One of Caywood’s patents, “Read Only Memory Utilizing Charge Coupled Device Structures,” describes a read-only memory built around a charge-coupled device channel. The design stores different charge levels in bit regions along the channel, using variations in storage-gate width, semiconductor doping, or oxide thickness. Phase electrodes then move the stored charges serially to produce a predetermined digital word.

His patent “Charge Transfer Device Signal Processing” presents an input scheme for low-level signals, such as those from an infrared detector array. Switching circuits transfer signals through separate channels to parallel inputs of a charge-transfer-device shift register. The design uses the same IGFET in each channel both to reset the input-node potential and to transfer signals, helping avoid noise caused by differences in transistor threshold voltages.

Career Highlights

Caywood’s disclosed inventions address memory storage and the reliable handling of low-level electronic signals. These technologies reflect work on charge-transfer devices and semiconductor circuit design during his career at Texas Instruments Corporation.

Collaborations

Among Caywood’s listed coworkers are Al F. Tasch, Jr., and Robert T. Bate. Their names provide context for the colleagues associated with his work.

Conclusion

John Millard Caywood’s patents document contributions to charge-coupled-device memory and signal-processing technologies, developed in connection with his work at Texas Instruments Corporation.