the Bill Gates, and whatever fame you want to give to anybody, they were famous people of those days. And the journals... you couldn't find a journal without their picture in it...". Retirement (1970–1974) On December 21, 1970, Widlar and Talbert resigned from National Semiconductor when National Semiconductor refused to reward them adequately. Widlar cashed in his stock option for $1 million (), and retired to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, at the age of 33.Lecuyer, p. 273, presents the same events as "It is widely believed that Widlar sold his stock ... and that he then retired in his early thirties." For four years he provided consultancy to the industry, but had not been formally employed anywhere for more than three years. His proud statement: "I don't work" caused him frequent troubles when crossing the Mexican border and eventually, Widlar created a set of fake business cards presenting him as a "road agent" for "Morgan Associates". National Semiconductor (1974–1981) In November 1974 Widlar returned to National Semiconductor as a consultant. Richard Hodgson said in 1995: LM12 and LM10 Some of Widlar's designs like the LM12 power amplifier and the LM10 ultra-low-voltage amplifier introduced in 1978, remain in production in the 21st century. The LM10 is capable of operating with a 1.1V power supply, thus instead of a conventional bandgap reference it employs Widlar's sub-bandgap circuit locked at 200 mV and the low-voltage Widlar output stage. For 10 years, no one else in the industry was able to produce a circuit that matched the LM10. Linear Technology (1981–1984) In 1981 Swanson, Dobkin and Widlar co-founded Linear Technology. Swanson steered the company into producing second-source parts for other companies. Three years later the relationships fell apart in a patent right dispute. Widlar claimed rights over Linear's LT1 to LT20 chips, and in May 1984 walked away, leaving the case to his lawyers. In October 1984, Swanson fired Widlar and invoked the mandatory share repurchase provision that was in Widlar's contract. According to Bo Lojek, Widlar's notebooks contained sufficient evidence to prove that many of the disputed patents were created by Widlar before Linear Technology was formed. Robert Swanson, chairman of Linear Technology, said in 2006: National Semiconductor (1984–1991) Widlar returned to National Semiconductor for the remainder of his life. He and Dobkin never talked to each other after the breakup. Dobkin said in 2006 that "Bob was one of the few people I