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Oral History – Wilf Corrigan
(Continued)
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Wilf, please describe the
circumstances of your move to Motorola in 1960.
I left
to move to Motorola. They hired me to run their new Epitaxial Materials
Dept, in Phoenix. A big move for a 22 year old. Transitron was losing a
lot of their European talent, who felt they were being exploited, and being
paid below market. Competition was moving more quickly, Hughes, TI,
Fairchild, Philips, RCA, ITT, Delco, Sprague, Motorola, General Electric, Raytheon,
Sylvania, and many others.
The
guy who hired me at Moto Phoenix was George Russell, another Brit.(Later to
be General Manager of General Instruments Semiconductor Division.)
They were advertising for engineers that knew something about epitaxy - not
too many did. In those days all us single engineers on Route 128 would
respond to any recruiting ads for the free dinner. I did actually know a
little about Epi, as I had done some epitaxia lab projects in my final year
at Imperial College, London. However growing single crystal layers in a
Hydrogen atmosphere at 1100 degrees Centigrade was a little different. However they
offered me the job of Section Manager Epitaxial Materials, at 50% higher
salary. I was 22 years old, and 6 months out of college. America was the land of opportunity. Before I left Boston, I got married, and we arrived
in Phoenix 29th Dec 1960.
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Oral History – Wilf Corrigan
(Continued)
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What were your first
assignments at Motorola?
The
epitaxial Materials department was me and four technicians. Germanium
epitaxy was working reasonably well, but Silicon was in trouble. By the
middle of 1960, we had a reproducible epitaxial process, but our customer, the
device group, had real problems making the end product. In early 1961 C. Lester
Hogan, the Division VP and GM, promoted me to Product Mgr of Pilot Lines, reporting
to Leo Dwork. About six months after this, they gave me the job of
Operations Mgr Silicon Transistors. Leo was responsible for all
Transistors, Silicon, Germanium Small signal, Germanium Power, Germanium
General Purpose Alloy, plus Integrated Circuits.
Please comment on the
organizational structure and your personal interactions at Motorola?
Org Structure.
Operations had the P&L. Product Marketing reported up to the VP Marketing
and Sales, as did Customer Service. Operations controlled price,
Manufacturing, and Development. International was part of Sales, but I
still controlled pricing.
Go
To Corrigan Oral History, Page 6
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