Editing Microsystems International

{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2022|cs1-dates=y}}
{{Infobox company
| name=Microsystems International Limited
| logo=Microsystems International logo.svg
| type=Subsidiary
| industry={{ubl|Semiconductor|Telecommunications}}
| founded={{start date and age|1969}} in [[Ottawa]], Ontario, Canada
| defunct={{end date and age|1974}}
| fate=Folded into [[Bell-Northern Research]]
| parent=[[Nortel Networks|Northern Electric]]
}}
[[File:Micro MF8008R 1.jpg|thumb|MIL MF8008R 8-bit microprocessor, second source of the [[Intel 8008]].]]
'''Microsystems International Limited''' ('''MIL''') was a [[telecommunications]] [[microelectronics]] company based in [[Ottawa]], Ontario, Canada, founded in 1969.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.microprocessor.sscc.ru/comphist/comphist.htm |title=Chronology of Events in the History of Microcomputers |author=Ken Polsson |accessdate=2006-09-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060515181000/http://www.microprocessor.sscc.ru/comphist/comphist.htm |archive-date=2006-05-15 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|last=Patterson|first=Anthony J.|date=1974-10-21|title=Microsystem's misadventures prove costly|magazine=Ottawa Citizen|pages=72|accessdate=2017-05-26|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=Xq4yAAAAIBAJ&sjid=ie0FAAAAIBAJ&pg=1077%2C2047709}}</ref> MIL was an early attempt to create a merchant semiconductor house by [[Nortel Networks]] (then Northern Electric).

MIL is historically important as the producers of one of the world's earliest [[microprocessor]]s, the MIL MF7114,<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Stachniak|first=Z.|date=October–December 2010|title=The MIL MF7114 Microprocessor|journal=IEEE Annals of the History of Computing|volume=32|issue=4 |pages=48–59|doi=10.1109/MAHC.2009.62 |s2cid=16737817 }}</ref> which was based on the design of the [[Intel 4004]]. MIL also produced a series of early [[microcomputer]]s using this chip, including the MIL CPS-1, which may be the earliest example of a microcomputer system that was shipped in completed form, as opposed to a kit that had to be assembled. Several other upgraded models followed.

==History==
[[File:Micro MF1103R 1a.jpg|thumb|MIL MF1103R 1 kb PMOS DRAM, second source of the [[Intel 1103]].]]
Electronic manufacturers were at that time forced to create custom integrated circuits due to the lack of industry standard ICs. MIL was an attempt to create a merchant company that could supply such standard devices as well as custom devices for Northern Electric products. Northern Electric entered the field partly at the urging of the Canadian federal government even though it had strong doubts of the viability of the company.<ref name="Thomas1983"/>
[[File:MIL 74L72 plus 54L20 TTL and ML741 plus ML301 opamps.jpg|thumb|MIL standard bipolar digital TTL logic (ML54L20, ML74L72) and linear opamp (ML301, ML741) components]]
[[File:MIL MF1702 MD6150 MF2102 and 1402 memories.jpg|thumb|MIL MF1702 2kb EPROM, MD6150 256b bipolar SRAM, MF1402 1kb dynamic shift register, and MF2102 1kb NMOS SRAM]]
MIL manufactured both [[Bipolar junction transistor|bipolar]] and [[MOSFET|MOS]] semiconductor devices, including standard [[TTL (electronics)|TTL]] digital logic components and linear products such as [[operational amplifier]]s, as well as a variety of memory components. In 1971, MIL became a [[second source]] for the [[Intel 1103]] [[dynamic random-access memory|DRAM]] IC.<ref name="Tedlow2006" /> The licensing fee paid by MIL to Intel meant that Intel could show a profit in 1971 for the first time in its history.<ref name="Tedlow2006" />

MIL was never able to show a profit and losses were exacerbated by the semiconductor market downturn in 1974. It was purchased and folded into Nortel's research arm [[Bell-Northern Research]] and later merged into [[Nortel]].<ref name="Thomas1983"/> MIL was purchased and folded into Nortel's research arm [[Bell-Northern Research]] in 1974.<ref>{{cite book | editor-last=Novakowski | editor-first=Nick | editor2=Rémy Tremblay | date=2007 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g3EC4nqKcmIC | title=Perspectives on Ottawa's High-tech Sector | publisher=P.I.E.–Peter Lang | page=30 | isbn=9789052013701}}</ref> The MIL fabrication facility continued to operate as the largest semiconductor fab in Canada until Nortel's bankruptcy in 2009.

==Spinoffs==
MIL's most lasting contribution is that it was the meeting place for the entrepreneurs [[Terry Matthews]] and [[Michael Cowpland]]. The pair left the company to found much of the high tech industry in [[Kanata, Ontario]], Canada. They started [[Mitel]] together.  Cowpland later started [[Corel]].  Matthews later started [[Newbridge Networks]].  Cowpland's boss at MIL cautioned him against leaving the security of a large company just a few months before MIL was wound up.

Another partnership formed at MIL was that of Dick Foss and Bob Harland who, on their return from the 1975 [[International Solid-State Circuits Conference|ISSCC]] conference where they had presented their paper on MIL's 4k DRAM,<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Foss|first1=R.|last2=Harland|first2=R.|title=1975 IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference. Digest of Technical Papers |chapter=Simplified peripheral circuits for a marginally testable 4K RAM |chapter-url=https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/1155354|year=1975 |volume=XVIII|pages=102–103|doi=10.1109/ISSCC.1975.1155354 }}</ref> found that they were no longer employed. They started [[MOSAID]] initially as a memory design house and branched out into other related areas such as reverse engineering, EDA software, and memory test equipment manufacturing. The reverse engineering business was spun off in 1989 as Semiconductor Insights, now TechInsights.

==References==
{{reflist|refs=
<ref name="Thomas1983">{{cite book
|title=Knights of the New Technology
|first=David
|last=Thomas
|publisher=Key Porter Books
|year=1983
|isbn=978-0919493162}}</ref>
<ref name="Tedlow2006">{{cite book
|title=[[Andy Grove]]: The Life and Times of an American
|first=Richard S.
|last=Tedlow
|publisher=Portfolio
|year=2006
|pages=[https://archive.org/details/andygrovelifeand00tedl/page/141 141–142]
|isbn=9781591841395
}}</ref>
}}

==External links==
* {{Commons category-inline|Microsystems International integrated circuits}}
* [http://www.cse.yorku.ca/museum/collections/MIL/MIL.htm Microsystems International Ltd. Collection] at the [[York University]] [http://www.cse.yorku.ca/museum/index.htm Computer Museum]
* {{cite web |url=https://www.richis-lab.de/Opamp34.htm |title=Microsystems International ML709 |language=de |author=Richard Kaußler |accessdate=2021-07-09}} (operational amplifier manufactured by MIL)
* {{cite web |url=https://www.richis-lab.de/Opamp36.htm |title=Microsystems International ML741 |language=de |author=Richard Kaußler |accessdate=2022-09-28}} (operational amplifier manufactured by MIL)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Microsystems International}}
[[Category:Nortel]]
[[Category:Manufacturing companies based in Ottawa]]
[[Category:Semiconductor companies of Canada]]
https://www.richis-lab.de/Opamp36.htm