High power semiconductor-based nano and subnanosecond, pulse generator with a low delay time

Abstract

One of the promising designs of high power nano and subnanosecond pulse generators is based on FID-stacks triggered with a nanosecond pulse of overvoltage. This pulse is usually formed by semiconductor opening switches (DSRDs). Delay time of these switches is equal to the sum of forward and reverse current pulse duration, i.e., several hundreds of nanoseconds. Due to special diode structure, a novel opening switch, inverse recovery diode (IRD), is capable of forming the nanosecond pulse of voltage with a delay time equal to the reverse current pulse duration (15-20 ns). The high voltage nanosecond pulse formed with the IRD is used for fast triggering of the first DC-biased FID from a high voltage DC-biased FID-stack. The formed fast overvoltage pulse is applied to the second FID, etc. As a result, the high voltage FID-stack is switched on the order of a nanosecond. The total delay time of the IRD-FID based pulse generator is less than 30 ns