EEVblog 1737 - Alex Lidow: Inventor of the Power MOSFET

[EEVblog]

A chat with Alex Lidow, the inventor of the original Power MOSFET and HEXFET at International Rectifier.
Former CEO of International Rectifier (founded by his father!), and now Founder & CEO of EPC (Efficient Power Conversion) that make the most efficient GaN FET's on the market.
https://epc-co.com
We cover everything from inventing the power MOSFET on his first day on the job to silicon physics and AI data centres and humanoid robots.


00:00 - Alex Lidow
05:08 - What's the definition of an Engineer?
06:07 - Inventing the Power MOSFET 400V/1ohm first day on the job with Tom Herman
09:16 - The flash of brilliance: Inject charge into the region
10:36 - Steve Wozniak and the Apple IIE PSU
12:02 - IRF100 and IRF130 HEXFET
14:18 - 42 Competitors!
15:54 - Major Innovations in MOSFET's
17:00 - CoolMOS from Siemens
18:23 - TrenchMOS from Vishay
19:17 - Silicon Carbide started as a diode
21:46 - 2D Electron Gas (2DEG)
24:40 - Silicon MOSFET game is won by the deepest pockets
25:09 - Getting fired from IR and starting Starting EPC
26:28 - Get that damn Gallium out of my Silicon fab!
29:31 - Integrated GaN Solutions
31:03 - The physics of Radiation Hardening in MOSFETS
34:23 - The market for high voltage transistors
36:00 - The 200V and under MOSFET market is performance driven
39:13 - Protecting Patents in China is EASIER than in the US!
41:41 - AI Data centres and NVIDIA modules
44:46 - 800V AI power module architecture
47:42 - Multi level DC-DC tolology ISOP
49:46 - Frequency trade-off in LLC DC-DC converter design
56:13 - Humanoid robots
58:16 - What is the most popular GaN?
59:24 - Buyouts?
01:00:36 - Evalutation Boards
01:03:34 - Darkening the digital sky

[isometrik]

I just watched the video. Amazing interview. I enjoyed every second of it.

Many thanks to Dave for bringing such very high quality content.

[Bud]

Great interview , many thanks!

[mawyatt]

Fascinating Interview, well done

Dr Alex Lidow has and continues with a interesting and brilliant career

Best

[BradC]

That was fascinating. Thanks Dave.

[SiliconWizard]

Cool stuff! One of these (now) rare CEOs who actually know their stuff inside out!

[ballsystemlord]

As someone who's not educated about fabrication (though I have read all the articles I've found on the topic), I was a bit disappointed that many things were left unexplained. Like why 120* angles are a good thing in MOSFETs. Charge carrier injection was skipped over. Why the channel width needed to be bigger to lower the RDS(on). Etc.

Nonetheless, it was a great talk for those more in the know than I am.

[thm_w]

As someone who's not educated about fabrication (though I have read all the articles I've found on the topic), I was a bit disappointed that many things were left unexplained. Like why 120* angles are a good thing in MOSFETs. Charge carrier injection was skipped over. Why the channel width needed to be bigger to lower the RDS(on). Etc.

Quick search out of curiosity:
- hexagonal pattern internal angle is 120 degrees. Hex pattern has the lowest rds on (hexfet).
- carrier injection I believe refers to this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hot-carrier_injection high voltage and smaller device increases chance of failing due to hot carrier injection.
- channel width in simple terms, large width = lower resistance. Similar to a PCB trace.

https://bpb-us-w2.wpmucdn.com/u.osu.edu/dist/f/88613/files/2023/03/A_New_Cell_Topology_for_4H-SiC_Planar_Power_MOSFETs_and_Comparison_with_Hexagonal_and_Octagonal_Cell_Topologies.pdf

https://www.shindengen.com/products/semi/column/basic/mosfet/mosfet_on_resistance.html
https://www.allaboutcircuits.com/technical-articles/mosfet-channel-length-modulation/

[cbaker]

@EEVBlog
Just FYI, the link to download the video here seems to be broken:
https://www.eevblog.com/2026/03/07/eevblog-1737-alex-lidow-inventor-of-the-power-mosfet/

It is point to episode 1736.
Even on the ftp, the file for 1737 appears to not be fully uploaded:
https://www.eevblog.org/video/EEVblog1737-AlexLidow-EPC-MOSFET-1280x720.mp4.filepart
It stops playing after about 56 minutes.

Also, I don't see this available as a podcast from theamphour.com.
I can make due to watch the last 10 minutes on Youtube, but listening to a podcast in the Youtube Android app is extremely painful because it won't let you turn off the screen (apparently this is a "premium" feature).

[thm_w]

I can make due to watch the last 10 minutes on Youtube, but listening to a podcast in the Youtube Android app is extremely painful because it won't let you turn off the screen (apparently this is a "premium" feature).

Lots of youtube to mp3 sites exist, or programs like Newpipe, Tubular, and Seal. You can also watch youtube with the screen off using firefox + ublock, desktop mode or an addon.

No need for FTPs.

[EEVblog]

@EEVBlog
Just FYI, the link to download the video here seems to be broken:
https://www.eevblog.com/2026/03/07/eevblog-1737-alex-lidow-inventor-of-the-power-mosfet/

It is point to episode 1736.
Even on the ftp, the file for 1737 appears to not be fully uploaded:
https://www.eevblog.org/video/EEVblog1737-AlexLidow-EPC-MOSFET-1280x720.mp4.filepart
It stops playing after about 56 minutes.

Also, I don't see this available as a podcast from theamphour.com.
I can make due to watch the last 10 minutes on Youtube, but listening to a podcast in the Youtube Android app is extremely painful because it won't let you turn off the screen (apparently this is a "premium" feature).

Oop, thanks for the heads up, fixing now. Double goof there.
We usually have many Amp Hour episodes prerecorded, so not sure when it's going up there.

EDIT: Fixed.