Maybe you know who invented microscopes, ballpoints, or glasses. Sometimes, inventors are well-known names that we encounter in history classes. But they may as well be geniuses forgotten by history. Companies and research institutes also have inventors. Imec’s patent group receives about 300 invention report sheets (IRS) per year. These are the documents that our researchers complete when they are convinced that they have found a unique solution. These ideas lead to over 100 patents per year. Bob Verbruggen is a regular visitor to the patent group, having written 15 invention reports in less than 10 years. We asked him to talk about his work on analogue-to-digital convertors (ADCs).