Self-Triggering High-Frequency Nanosecond Pulse Generator

Abstract

With the increasingly extensive and in-depth applications of all solid-state high-voltage nanosecond pulse generators in the defense and industrial fields, the development of traditional pulse generators faces many key issues, such as high-voltage drive isolation, compact design, and reduced weight. Hence, a novel circuit topology for a self-triggered high-frequency nanosecond pulse generator is proposed. Through high potential energy-gaining technology of the interstage capacitance, this generator does not need a complicated metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistor isolation drive circuit, and there are also no switching dynamic and static voltage equalization problems. This kind of generator is very suitable for compact assembly with only a single external gate driver. High voltage output can be realized by quantizing multilevel module stacking according to actual needs. At the same time, the generator has a high repetition rate and long life. The characteristic parameters of the 20-stage superposition experimental prototype are as follows: an output voltage amplitude of 15.3 kV with a rising time of approximately 45 ns, a repetition rate of 10 kHz in the pulse train, and a pulsewidth of 200–1000 ns.