Breakdown characteristics of a silicon carbide photoconductive semiconductor switch triggered spark gap

Abstract

Development of a switch capable of operation at high voltages, high repetition frequency, with long lifetime is essential for furthering pulsed power applications. Photoconductive semiconductor switches (PCSSs) possess inherent optical isolation and extremely low switching jitter (∼10 ps), and have also been experimentally shown to be capable of switching high voltages (up to 50 kV) and currents with very fast rise and fall times (< 1 ns) [1-2]. In this paper, we report the breakdown characteristics of a SiC PCSS triggered spark gap obtained via measurement of the voltage and current, and simulation of the electric field distribution. The triggered spark gap is composed of sphere-to-sphere electrodes and a field distortion electrode, which is kept at mid-potential in the center plane between the two spherical main electrodes. A normally open PCSS is connected between one of the main electrodes and the mid-plane (trigger) electrode, whose center bore diameter is varied from 5 to 15 mm. With application of the optical pulse to the PCSS, the trigger electrode is temporarily connected to the main electrode, effectively doubling the electric field between the trigger and opposite electrode, leading to main gap closure. In essence, while bulk SiC PCSS switching currents demand very high optical power input, the synergy of bulk SiC PCSS and traditional spark gaps enables the triggering of large current flows at very modest optical powers with low jitter. Overall, the obtained results reveal that incident laser energy and mid-plane electrode geometry heavily influence the breakdown characteristics of the spark gap including jitter time, and breakdown voltage.