Semiconductor Researcher Earns Innovation Award

Dr. Bilal Akin, professor of electrical and computer engineering in the Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science at The University of Texas at Dallas, has received the Semiconductor Research Corp. (SRC) 2023 Innovation Award.

The annual award recognizes patents and intellectual property arising from SRC research that have made a significant impact on the semiconductor industry.

Akin was honored for his patent that has helped develop a tool to detect early signs of failures in silicon carbide metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors in power electronics systems. Some of Akin’s findings have been deployed in Texas Instruments’ (TI) UCC5870 gate driver, a key part of a power conversion system in electric vehicles that enables large currents to flow through power transistors to different transistor structures. This product has been used by more than 10 automotive original equipment manufacturers.

“Witnessing our innovations in action within the realms of industry and the automotive market is a testament to our team’s excellence,” Akin said.

Akin, an IEEE fellow, is director of the Power Electronics and Drives Lab at UT Dallas. His research focuses on the design, control, and condition monitoring of power electronics systems and motor drives. He earned a National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development Program award in 2015. Before joining UT Dallas in 2012, Akin was a research and development engineer at TI and Toshiba Corp.