Prospects and expectations of power electronics in the 21st century

The emergence of power semiconductor devices such as insulated-gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs) or injection-enhanced gate transistors (IEGTs) and gate-commutated turn-off (GCT) thyristors or integrated gate-commutated thyristors (IGCTs) enables power conversion systems to expand into utility and industry applications. This paper describes the present status of power electronics, and its future prospects and directions in the 21st century.