September 9, 2008

NC State engineer details invention in new book

Dr. Baliga (Photo: Roger Winstead)

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North Carolina State University electrical engineering professor B. Jayant Baliga details his breakthrough invention, the Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor (IGBT), in a 1,000-page textbook published this month.  

Baliga, Distinguished University Professor of Electrical Engineering and the Director of the Power Semiconductor Research Center at NC State, invented the transistor in 1980 to improve the energy efficiency of motor drives. The device controls the flow of power from the energy source to whatever device needs the energy.

The energy saved by the IGBT — found in everything from cars and refrigerators to light bulbs and cardiac defibrillators — prevents more than one trillion pounds of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere each year. Energy savings in electric motors and energy-efficient light bulbs alone equals 100 gigawatts, meaning that plenty of new one-gigawatt, coal-fired power plants won't need to be built. There are economic benefits as well - to the tune of $2 billion for each plant that does not have to be constructed.

The new book, Fundamentals of Power Semiconductor Devices , gives an in-depth discussion of the physics of the operation of power semiconductor devices (transistors, thyristors and rectifiers) that are often used by the power electronics industry.   Baliga also explains the design requirements for emerging silicon carbide devices, which are even more efficient than the IGBT.

The book was written for practicing engineers interested in power semiconductor devices.   The analytical models provided for all the devices make it an ideal textbook for teaching courses on power semiconductor devices.

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