Electrical engineering alum Jiankang Bu '01 PhD has been named vice president of engineering for Ideal Power, developer of B-TRAN bi-directional power switches, according to a press release.
Bu is a 20-year power semiconductor and power electronics engineer with deep technical expertise in semiconductor device physics, process and device simulation, wafer fabrication, process optimization, and product design. He holds over 30 issued patents and is the author of numerous technical publications.
“We expect [Bu's] extensive experience working with conventional power semiconductor devices such as IGBTs and MOSFETs, with semiconductor foundries, and in designing power semiconductor devices, including power switch technologies for hybrid electric vehicle and EV applications, will prove invaluable,” said Dan Brdar, CEO of Ideal Power.
Previously, Bu was chairman and CTO of Endeavor Microelectronics, a power semiconductor startup. Over the past 20 years, he held senior engineering and technology development and leadership roles in the power semiconductor industry, including at International Rectifier, Power Integrations, National Semiconductor, and Motorola. While at International Rectifier, he led automotive power switch technology development for Hybrid Electric Vehicle (HEV) and Electric Vehicle (EV) applications at every stage from device design, simulation, and integration to key process development and test program optimization. He holds 24 US patents, two pending US patents, and nine Chinese patents, and he has published over 20 journal and conference papers.
“I am excited to be part of the team that is bringing such an impactful technology such as B-TRAN to market," said Bu. "The B-TRAN is an innovative semiconductor architecture that, due to its bi-directionality and high efficiency, has broad applicability across a variety of applications."
Bu holds degrees in electrical engineering (BS) and microelectronics (MS) from Nankai University, China, in addition to his Lehigh PhD in electrical engineering.