IGBT inventor wins $1m prize
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The 2024 Millennium Technology Prize has been awarded to Professor Bantval Jayant Baliga of North Carolina State University for the invention of the Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor (IBGT).
Since its development in the 1980s, the IGBT has key for high voltage renewable energy applications such as wind and solar power as well as electric vehicles and electric motors in consumer and industrial use.
The €1 million global award for technology is overseen by the Technology Academy Finland and was first awarded in 2004.
“It is very exciting to have been selected for this great honour. I am particularly happy that the Millennium Technology Prize will bring attention to my innovation, as the IGBT is an embedded technology that is hidden from the eyes of society,” said Professor Bantval Jayant Baliga, who was granted the title of Progress Energy Distinguished University Emeritus Professor earlier this month. “It has enabled a vast array of products that have improved the comfort, convenience, and health of billions of people around the world while reducing carbon dioxide emissions to mitigate global warming. Informing the public of this impactful innovation will illustrate the betterment of humanity by modern technology.”
Baliga and his team are currently working on two new inventions for further improvement of the efficiencies in the fields of solar power generation, electric vehicles, and power delivery for AI servers.
“My first recent invention, the Baliga Short-circuit Improvement Concept (BaSIC), is designed to eliminate the roadblock of poor short-circuit withstand time for Silicon Carbide power MOSFETs used in motor drives for industrial and electric vehicle applications,” he said.
“My second new invention, a Bi-Directional Field-Effect Transistor (BiDFET), enables the matrix converter for power electronic applications. Matrix converters offer unprecedented improvements in size, efficiency, and reliability when compared with existing voltage source inverters. This will have a revolutionary impact on power delivery and management according to power electronics experts.”
Professor Minna Palmroth, Chair of the Board of Technology Academy Finland, the foundation awarding the prize, said: “The IGBT has already had and continues to have a major impact on supporting sustainability with improved living standards world-wide, while mitigating environmental impact. The main solution to tackle global warming is electrification and moving to renewable energy. The IGBT is the key enabling technology in addressing these issues”.
“I am particularly happy that the prize illuminates an innovation that is at the same time absolutely critical, has an enormous impact, but is not known to the vast majority of people. I think it is a great way to emphasize the power of science and innovation”.
Professor Päivi Törmä, Chair of the International Selection Committee of the Millennium Technology Prize, said: “Two thirds of the electricity in the world is used to run motors in consumer and industrial applications. Professor Baliga’s innovation has allowed us to develop societies with electricity efficiently, while dramatically reducing energy consumption”.
“Power electronics is a key enabling technology of any modern society in which automation of processes and energy systems plays an ever-increasing role. For the last 40 years, and still today, the IGBT is the most important power semiconductor device.”
The Millennium Technology Prize will be presented to Professor Bantval Jayant Baliga in Finland on 30 October in an Award Ceremony that also celebrates the 20th anniversary of the Prize. The Millennium Technology Prize will be presented by its patron, the President of Finland.
Previous winners include DNA sequencing that helped to develop COVID-19 vaccines, to ethical stem-cell research and versatile, affordable smart technology.
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