Query: Power nanosecond semicon- ductor opening plasma switches

Candidate papers:

abstract: Opening switches (OS) with inductive storage system are very promising in pulsed power applications. The density of energy stored in an inductor is higher than in a capacitor. The pulsed voltage generated during a short time at the load may be many times (dozens) higher than the voltage at which the energy has been stored. In the early 1980s a new effect of super fast voltage restoration in high voltage silicon p n junctions, when the junction current is switched from forward to reverse direction, was discovered. This discovery gave rise to a new generation of solid state plasma opening switches, called drift step recovery diodes (DSRD) Being semiconductor devices, DSRD have unlimited life time, low jitter. A maximum repetition rate is limited mainly by heat and may be as high as megahertz. In this work the performance of DSRD and their limits are considered.
author_names: V I Brylevsky

Vladimir M Efanov

A F Kardo-Sysyev

I G Tchashnicov
title: Power nanosecond semiconductor opening plasma switches
venue: Proceedings of 1996 International Power Modulator Symposium
year: 1996

abstract: The paper analyzes the penetration of a magnetic field into the plasma bridge of nanosecond and microsecond opening switches. For switches with a conduction time of 100 ns, simple formulae are derived to estimate the magnetic field velocity in collisionless and collisional plasmas. It is shown that in both cases this velocity is determined by the magnetic field rise rate to plasma density ratio raised to the 1/2 power. As the conduction time is increased to 1 us, the field velocity starts to depend on the plasma aggregation by a magnetic piston. At the same time, irrespective of the conduction time, the electron flow velocity is limited by the radial drift velocity in crossed magnetic and polarization electric fields. Such a limitation suppresses the current channel conductivity with respect to the Spitzer value by a factor equal to the electron magnetization parameter raised to one or another power. On completion of the conduction phase, the rate of rise of the switch resistance is proportional to the electron drift velocity. The peak switch voltage obtained in calculations is compared with its values recorded in experiments on mega ampere current switching. A procedure is also presented for calculating the switch parameters to obtain the maximum possible voltage in the phase of current cutoff.
author_names: Sergey V Loginov
title: Self Magnetic Insulation in Plasma Opening Switches
venue: 2020 7th International Congress on Energy Fluxes and Radiation Effects (EFRE)
year: 2020

abstract: The paper analyses the penetration of a magnetic field into the plasma bridge of nanosecond and microsecond opening switches. For switches with a conduction time of ~100 ns, simple formulae are derived to estimate the magnetic field velocity in collisionless and collisional plasmas. It is shown that in both cases this velocity is determined by the magnetic field rise rate to plasma density ratio raised to the power of 1/2. As the conduction time is increased to ~1 \rm \mu}$s, the field velocity starts to depend on the plasma aggregation by a magnetic piston. At the same time, irrespective of the conduction time, the electron flow velocity is limited by the radial drift velocity in crossed magnetic and polarization electric fields. Such a limitation suppresses the current channel conductivity with respect to the Spitzer value by a factor equal to the electron magnetization parameter raised to one or another power. On completion of the conduction phase, the rate of rise of the switch resistance is proportional to the electron drift velocity. The peak switch voltage obtained in calculations is compared with its values recorded in experiments on mega ampere current switching. A procedure is also presented for calculating the switch parameters to obtain the maximum possible voltage in the phase of current cutoff.
author_names: Sergey V Loginov
title: Self magnetic insulation in plasma opening switches
venue: Journal of Plasma Physics
year: 2020

abstract: An analysis is made of the current break process in microsecond plasma opening switches and their possible application in high current generators. Necessary conditions are determined for generating megavolt pulses in the erosion mode of a plasma opening switch with the gap insulated by an external magnetic field. Under these conditions, efficient sharpening of high power submegampere current pulses can be achieved. The possibility of using plasma opening switches operating at voltages of 5 6 MV to generate X ray and gamma emission is discussed. The main operating and design parameters of a six module plasma opening switch with a current pulse amplitude of 3.7 MA and voltage of 4 6 MV for use in the MOL generator, which is the prototype of one of the 24 modules of the projected Baikal multimegajoule generator, are estimated by using the available scalings.
author_names: Georgiy I Dolgachev

Dmitry D Maslennikov

Andrey G Ushakov
title: Outlook for the use of microsecond plasma opening switches to generate high power nanosecond current pulses
year: 2006

abstract: Low temperature plasma technology is widely used in various industrial fields, which require the plasma to be of large volume, diffuse, and stable. Furthermore, previous studies have shown that better plasma performance has been obtained by using generators with a high voltage, a high repetition rate, a fast rise time, and a short pulse duration. In this paper, a novel topology is proposed for such generators, which is based on magnetic switches and diode opening switches. A prototype is developed, and its output characteristics are investigated by varying essential parameters, such as the load resistance and the power supply voltage. The experimental results show that it can generate pulses with a voltage of 30.6 kV, a rise time of 7.1 ns, a pulse duration of 8.2 ns, and a maximum repetition rate of 12 kHz on a 300 O resistive load. The prototype has been successfully used to drive uniform plasma in ambient air. In the proposed topology, a diode is added to make the magnetic cores independent of each other, significantly simplifying the design calculation. It may help develop nanosecond solid state generators.
author_names: Zichen Deng

Zhenjie Ding

Qi Yuan

Weidong Ding

Lin-Mao Ren

Yanan Wang
title: High voltage nanosecond pulse generator based on diode opening switch and magnetic switch.
venue: The Review of scientific instruments
year: 2021

abstract: As a new method to enhance nanosecond pulsed power, aiming improvement of cold plasma applications, a type of circuit that is amplified by synchronization of double simple inductive energy storage (IES) circuits with a semiconductor opening switch (SOS) diode was designed and evaluated. The secondary parts of double simple IES circuits which consist of capacitors, a pulse transformer, MOS gated thyristors, and an SOS were connected in parallel and in series, and power amplification was attempted by synchronization of reverse currents of the SOS diodes in two circuits. As a result, when the load was also connected in parallel and in series according to circuit connection way, two times higher pulsed voltage and current were obtained at the load in cases of serial and parallel connections, respectively. When the load was a wire to a cylinder coaxial electrode, power of one pulsed discharge increased by the synchronization of the connected two circuits. The ratio of the power increase is expected by simple circuit calculations to be affected by the stray capacitance at the pulse transformer. This fact proves that the synchronization of the IES circuits is an available method for achievement of high power.
author_names: Taichi Sugai

Kosuke Yawata

Akira Tokuchi

Weihua Jiang
title: Amplification of Nanosecond Pulsed Power by Synchronization of Double Inductive Energy Storage Circuit
venue: IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science
year: 2019

abstract: High speed opening switches(OS) with inductive storage system are very promising in pulsed power applications.The pulsed voltage generated during a short time at the load may be many times higher than the voltage at which the energy has been stored.In the late 20th century a new effect of super fast voltage restoration in high voltage silicon PN junctions,when the junction current is switched from forward to reverse direction,was discovered.The discovery gave rise to a new generation of solid state plasma opening switches,called Drift Step Recovery Diodes(DSRD),which has the advantage of long life time,low jitter,and high repetition rate.The physical property of fast recovery was analyzed in detail and transmitters based on it were designed,which can be applied in GPR system.
author_names: Fang Guangyou
title: Novel Power Nanosecond Switches for UWB Ground Penetrating Radar
year: 2009

abstract: A new type of an opening switch which operates in vacuum and opens on a nanosecond timescale at voltages 1 MV is described. This Plasma Opening Switch (POS) is able to conduct several hundred kiloamperes for approx. 50 nsec while a vacuum inductor is charged, then to open in 10 nsec, delivering a large fraction of the stored energy to an electron beam load. Preliminary experiments are described and a simple model of the POS operations is presented.
author_names: Robert A Meger

Robert J Commisso

Gerald Cooperstein

Shyke A Goldstein
title: Vacuum inductive store/pulse compression experiments on a high power accelerator using plasma opening switches. Memorandum report
year: 1983

abstract: A new type of semiconductor opening switch drift step recovery diodes (DSRD) gave rise to a new generation of all solid state nanosecond pulsers with peak power up to a hundred megawatts. The main advantages of these switches are: long life, very good time stability (low jitter) small sizes, and a respectively simple technology of manufacturing. They have a very important feature as well: the total length of both plasma pumping and plasma removing cycles are several hundreds (100 300) of nanoseconds even for high power pulse generation. After the end of the plasma removing cycle, DSRD is in an initial opening state and is ready for the next cycle. Generally speaking, it is possible to generate power pulses at megahertz pulse repetition rates. The presented work is devoted to this mode description.
author_names: Alexei F Kardo-Sysoev

S V Zazulin

N M Efanov

O Lelitov

A V Kriklenko
title: High repetition frequency power nanosecond pulse generation
venue: Digest of Technical Papers. 11th IEEE International Pulsed Power Conference (Cat. No.97CH36127)
year: 1997

abstract: This paper is devoted to experimental studies of a short pulse (80 ns) inductive system with a coaxial plasma erosion opening switch (PEOS) operating at the 2 5 x 1010 W level. Scalings of the PEOS and ion diode characteristics with different parameters (PEOS plasma density and velocity, PEOS electrode geometry, load impedance, type and strength of an external magnetic field) were carried out. It was seen that for the most efficient energy and power switching to the load by the PEOS, the following conditions are preferable: high velocity and low density of the plasma flow, negative polarity of the inner PEOS electrode, coincidence of the switch current and injected plasma flow directions, the absence of an external magnetic field, and the presence of an additional self field in the PEOS region. Power enhancement of a factor of 3 and pulse shortening by a factor of 2 were obtained under optimal conditions.
author_names: A I Arbuzov

Vitaly M Bystritskii

Ya E Krasik

A A Sinebryukhov

V I Podkatov
title: The Application of a Plasma Erosion Opening Switch to a Nanosecond Generator at the Power Level of 1010 W
venue: IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science
year: 1987