The high voltage nanosecond electric pulse generator based on a photoconductive semiconductor switch

Abstract

A recently developed simulation algorithm based on the Shockley-Read-Hall model was used to describe the characteristics of the output pulses from the newly developed high voltage nanosecond electrical pulse generator (HVNEPG). The new HVNEPG was based on a semi-insulating Gallium Arsenide (GaAs) photoconductive semiconductor switch (PCSS) which was biased at high external electric field (26.7KV/cm) and illuminated by a laser at the wavelength of 1.064 micrometer for 1 nanosecond. A pulsed power supply and a Blumlein-like transmission line with a small equivalent capacitance were employed in the new HVNEPG which resulted in high voltage low jitters output pulses and a significantly prolonged lifetime of the PCSS under high electric field. The good agreement between the model simulation and the experimental measurements leads to the conclusion that the PCSS was operated in a linear mode under a higher than critical electric field.