Introduction
Abstract
The pervasive use of the insulated-gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) in all sectors of the economy has made it an essential element for improving the comfort, convenience, and quality of life for billions of people around the world. After a discussion of the applications spectrum for power devices, this chapter describes the basic structure and operating principle of the IGBT. The circumstances and efforts undertaken to take the device from concept to a commercialized product are described to provide a historical perspective. The rapid growth in power ratings for the IGBT is traced over the last 30 years.
Keywords
Applications spectrum; Asymmetric; Commercialization history; IGBT structure; Ratings growth; SymmetricGet The IGBT Device now with the O’Reilly learning platform.
O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.
