B. Jayant Baliga

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Bantval Jayant Baliga (born 28 April 1948 in Chennai) is an Indian electrical engineer best known for his work in power semiconductor devices, and particularly the invention of the insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT). [1] [2]

Contents

In 1993, Baliga was elected as a member into the National Academy of Engineering for contributions to power semiconductor devices leading to the advent of smart power technology, and in 2024, won the Finnish Millennium Technology Prize for his invention of the IGBT. [3] [4]

Early life and education

Baliga grew up in Jalahalli, a small village near Bangalore, India. His father, Bantwal Vittal Manjunath Baliga, was one of India's first electrical engineers in the days before independence and founding President of the Indian branch of the Institute of Radio Engineers, which later became the IEEE in India. Baliga's father played pivotal roles in the founding of Indian television and electronics industries. [1] [5] During his childhood his father inspired him a lot. Baliga remembers reading IEEE proceeding during his high school days which were brought home by his father. He graduated from high school in 1963. [6]

Jayant studied at Bishop Cotton Boys' School, Bangalore. He received his B.Tech in Electrical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras in 1969, and his MS (1971) and PhD (1974) in Electrical Engineering from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. [1]

Career

He worked 15 years at the General Electric Research and Development Center in Schenectady, New York. In the early 1980s, he invented the insulated gate bipolar transistor that combines sciences from two streams: Electronics engineering and Electrical engineering. It is a transistor switch that was immediately put into production once invented.

This has resulted in cost savings of over $15 trillion for consumers, and is forming a basis for smart grid. This device is in use in many machines and devices using electricity, from kitchen appliances, medical devices, and electric cars to the electric power grid itself.

He joined North Carolina State University in 1988 as a Full Professor. He was promoted to Distinguished University Professor in 1997. He continues to innovate in electronics, even as an emeritus professor. [7]

He has founded three companies that made products based on semiconductor technologies. [5] [8] [9]

Recognition

Bibliography

No.TitlePublisherYear ISBN
1Epitaxial Silicon TechnologyAcademic Press Inc19869780120771202
2Modern Power DevicesJohn Wiley & Sons19879780471819868
3Power Semiconductor DevicesWadsworth Publishing Co Inc19959783030067656
4Silicon Carbide Power DevicesWorld Scientific Publishing Company2006978-981-256-605-8
5Fundamentals of Power Semiconductor DevicesSpringer2018978-3319939872
6The IGBT Device: Physics, Design and Applications of the Insulated Gate Bipolar TransistorElsevier2022978-0323999120
7Modern Silicon Carbide Power DevicesWorld Scientific Publishing Company2023978-9811284274

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References

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  4. Chowdhury, Hasan (5 September 2024). "Meet the professor who just won the Millennium Technology Prize — and $1.1 million". Business Insider. Retrieved 21 September 2024.
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  13. Zorpette, Glenn (1997). Rennie, John (ed.). "Fifty Years of Heroes and Epiphanies". Scientific American . 8 (1): 7. ISSN   1048-0943 . Retrieved 16 January 2017. And it may not be too soon to identify a few new candidates for hero status—people such as the quantum-well wizard Federico Capasso of Lucent Technologies (which includes Bell Labs) and B. Jayant Baliga, the inventor of the IGBT, who describes his transistor in this issue
  14. President Obama Honors Nation’s Top Scientists and Innovators, 27 September 2011, The White House, Office of the Press Secretary, whitehouse.gov
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Further reading