Performance of Solid-State High-Voltage Pulsers for Biological Applications—A Preliminary Study

Abstract

Modern semiconductor devices, such as power MOSFETs, are becoming increasingly viable as candidates for high-speed switching of high-voltage/high-current pulse circuits that are required for applications in biotechnology, such as bulk sterilization and in medical applications, such as electroporation. A survey of literature on electroporation shows that exponential and square (also known as rectangular) pulses varying in magnitudes from millivolts to kilovolts with millisecond to nanosecond pulse widths have been successfully used by researchers. High voltages and currents are reliably controlled by these devices when implemented in typical circuits. However, conventional MOSFETs in substrate-mounted standard packages are not designed to accommodate the extreme requirements that pulsed power applications demand. It is necessary to test these devices for their performance in a range of pulsed power applications and study their characteristics. This paper presents the simulation of modern semiconductors in pulsed power circuits. These tests characterize the limits of a device's performance when driven to nanosecond rise and fall times and nanosecond to microsecond pulse widths. MOSFET circuits reported in the literature were used for this purpose. Two of these circuits were also built and tested in our laboratory. In general, simulation results compared well with experimental results.