Awards

2024 IEEE Andrew S. Grove Award

Sponsored by the IEEE Electron Devices Society

TSUNENOBU KIMOTO

For contributions to silicon carbide material and power devices

Tsunenobu Kimoto is the world’s leading scientist in the field of SiC, a wide-bandgap semiconductor material that, due to its high critical electric field and other superior properties, significantly outperforms conventional semiconductors. SiC has immense capacity as a semiconductor for high-power, high-temperature devices, bringing remarkable reduction in power loss to a wide range of electric systems, including motors, power supplies, home appliances, and electric power networks. This revolution in power electronics is based almost entirely on the achievements of Kimoto, who established the core technologies and physics in the field. Without his work on SiC materials, processing, and device design, the vast amount of electric power now being saved would not be possible.

An IEEE Fellow, Kimoto is a Professor in the Department of Electronic Science and Engineering, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan.