Power nanosecond semiconductor opening plasma switches

Abstract

Opening switches (OS) with inductive storage system are very promising in pulsed power applications. The density of energy stored in an inductor is higher than in a capacitor. The pulsed voltage generated during a short time at the load may be many times (dozens) higher than the voltage at which the energy has been stored. In the early 1980s a new effect of super fast voltage restoration in high voltage silicon p-n junctions, when the junction current is switched from forward to reverse direction, was discovered. This discovery gave rise to a new generation of solid state plasma opening switches, called drift step recovery diodes (DSRD). Being semiconductor devices, DSRD have unlimited life time, low jitter. A maximum repetition rate is limited mainly by heat and may be as high as megahertz. In this work the performance of DSRD and their limits are considered.