Study on the Basic Characteristics of Solid-State Linear Transformer Drivers

Abstract

With the development of semiconductor technology, solid-state linear transformer drivers (SSLTDs), of which every stage containing many branches in parallel on the primary side is grounded, can generate high-voltage pulses with high current up to hundreds of Amperes in a few nanoseconds on the secondary side. As one type of pulse adders, the high voltage only appears at the secondary side, which considerably reduces the complexity of SSLTDs. However, the pulse widths are limited by the magnetic saturation of pulsed transformers, and the generated repetitive high-voltage short pulses are suitable for many applications such as wastewater treatment and tumor ablation. In this article, a nine-stage SSLTD was designed, and a prototype was built. Suppression of transient voltage was investigated. Different pulses, including square pulses, triangle pulses, and M-wave pulses, were obtained, and both the rise/fall time and the shapes of pulses can be modulated flexibly through controlling the synchronism of signals for different stages. Pulses with a voltage amplitude of 7.2 kV are obtained over a 100- $\Omega $ resistor load. The fastest rise time for high-voltage pulses is 32 ns.