Insulated-gate bipolar transistor (IGBT)
Transistor bipolar de puerta aislada (IGBT)
- Date
- 1979-1983 · confidence medium
- Place
- Schenectady, New York, United States
- Credited to
- B. Jayant Baliga (General Electric); Hans Becke and Carl Wheatley (RCA)
- Field
- Matter & energy
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
A power semiconductor that combines the insulated gate of a MOSFET with bipolar conduction, switching hundreds of amps with almost no drive power. It is the switch of drives, traction and solar inverters.
Baliga made it in 1979-80 and GE produced it in 1983; RCA patented a similar device in 1980 (Becke and Wheatley) and Toshiba and others worked on variants. It is dated here to 1982.
What it led to
- frequency drives and high-speed trains
- photovoltaic and electric-car inverters
- modern HVDC converters