SI-THYRISTOR AS A HIGH POWER SWCHI NG DEVICE FOR FAST HIGH

VOLTAGE PULSE GENERATORS

Shinji Ibuka, Kazunari Saito, AkiraY at0, KentaHanibuh,
Koichi Yasuoka, and Shozo Ishii
Tokyo bthk Of T h l ~ , 2-12-1, O-dcayama, Megurdcy Tokyo 152, J w
NaohiroShi
Toyo Electric M@. Co., Ltd., Kanu-soM Yamakmty, Kanagam 242, Japan
ABSTRACT
C- . on of SI-thyrisos as a fbt closing switch for puked power application was examined Since the
SI-thyrkh~ employd in ths study are normally on+&&, a negative bias voltage, is necessary at the gate
electrodeto establish hold-offstate. As a mmquene, list aurentrise rate can be stmngly expected A low
nmpedance gate driving Circuit built with MOSFETs improved turn-on characteristics remark&@. By
adjusting anode voltagedistriion and gate timing mefidly, sfxked SI-thymto~ were SllcceSSfully operated
to make tumon. Thehighest Ndt obtained in this study is55kA/ps. A M highvoltage pulse genemior with
mqp%c pulse compression scheme was built by using stacked SI-thyristors. To obtain faster high voltage
p u l s e , a x t s s . on l i ne as an additional d t for pulse dmpemg was employed.
in c;lructure of n-regm
havea lower on- voltageand a shorter tum-on time.
954
0-78034214-3/97/$10.00 0 1997 IEEE
+HV
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-
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-24V &
Fig. 1. Testing Circuit.
time [50ns/div]
Fig. 2. Turnan anode voltage
ontheloads.
NPTtype one. The PTtypedevice al so has the laver onatate &stivity. The anodevoltagesofthe anode shortedpTtypedevicz
weremeasured by myhg the load fkom 0.352to lOOwZ as shown inFig.2. Thepeak current of 4kA was obtained ibr
the0.352load Thetum+ntimeof awdevoltageforthe~lOOkWloadis~1oonS. Asthel oadresi sti Vi ty~thetum-
on timebecomes longer. This ~~ in tenpod am& voltage behaviors is due to the effect of i nstucti ve voltage component
producedbya"linductance of the device. Since the Udt increases, the i hui ve voltage component becomes comjwable
to theresistive one which exactly de&the turnan c k m a of the devi ce.
It appeared that the IT type SI-thyristors were suitable for pulsed payer apjiication, Then, we compared the turn-on
chamte&ics ofthe anodeshorted type device and thereverse conductive type one, which were both the IT type. Theresults
showed that thel atter have a little bit better quality as a jBst tu" devi ce. When the load mistivity was chosen as 0.352, a
typical t q d change in a load current and an anodecarhodevoltage for the reverse oonductiw device is shown in Fig.3. The
maximumvalue of Ndt reaches to 20Wps. Since the polarity of current directon changes h m positive to negative and vice
versain a low mpdance capacitor dixhrge, the reverse ormchxtive SI-thyristor is suitable as a pulsed paver switchng device.
time [ 1 OOnddiv]
Fig. 3. Tuna characte&ia of the single reverse conductive PT typeSI-thyristor
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SERIES CONNECI'ION FOR HIGH VOLTAGE OPERATION
High voltagepulse genaators to payer gas dischargeloads are r q u d to havetheoutput voltageat least more than1OkV. A
single SI-thynstor cannot be operated at such ahigh voltage. Then the devi ces must beconnected in Seriesto generate a hi@
voltagepulse. T uma c m ' 'a of fivestacked SI-thyrkto~~ connected in series were examinedby usingthe testing circuit
similar to that show in Fig.1. When thedevi ces are connected in series, voltages betwen the anode and cathode must beeve@
di str i i on each device. A resistor of 2Msz uas connected to each device in parallel for applied voltages to be di vi ded equally.
Gate timing is also a crucial parameter to determine turnan property. Fivegate driving units connected to the gate electrodes
supplied gate drive voltagepulses mdependently. Wecontrollled the timing for application of fivegate voltagepulses to each
devicesimul~withinseveralnanosecondsmr.
In t he case of stackedfiveancde shortdJ %Ttype SI-IS for a 5.552 res'lstiveload, the maximuml ate ofcunrent rise was
1OSkAlps and the peak current was 2.4kA at the c- g voltageof 15kV. As amparing with the data of thesingle clewe, the
rate df3xasdbecaUse of residual i nductance increas due to series c o d o n Wethen hied to characterize fivestacked reverse
conducthg "Ttype SI-thynstors. Eight -conductor rodswereplacedanxlndthe stackeddevicesto constitute laver circuit
i nductance which was reduced to about 26nH. When the c har pg voltagewas 15kV, a l d current to the resistiveload of 0.6Q
rose at the r;l teof 5Wm and reached 11.5kAat its peakas shown inFig.4.
Fig. 4. T una c w ' 'a of thefivestacked revem conductive Nl T typeSI-thyr&o~~.
GATE DRIVING CIECUIT
Suflicient amount of carries must be in- in a wy short timeinto depletion region h m thegate for fast " o n operation.
M o r e the gate driving circuit has to bedesigned to makeimpedance as low as possible. We designed andbuilt a new gate
driving circuir wirh low i"a shown 111 Fig.3 by m g MOSFETs wlllch can supply a fast Ugh current pulse to the gate
electrode. Two uni ts ofFive MOSFETs connected in parallel were placed closed to the gate terminal Electric charges are stored
in a low impedance chip-shapd capacitor of 47@. T una gate pulsed voltages were varied from 0 to 200V. Typical anale
voltagewaveforms of tman phase for the anode showSI-thynsto~~ withthe load resistor of 100kQ are summanzed in Fig.6.
In the figure, temporal changeof turna voltages at the anode dri ven by a conventional and the newly designed @e driving
circuit are shown. When the gafe pulsed voltagew lOV, the turnan ti me Of 24n~ was OMained
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Fig. 5. Newly caesigned gate driving circuit.
n
?- - - - conventional(Vg=6
tc, - new(Vg=6V)
Q) - -new(Vg=lOOV)
0
+
+-I Y
3
time [20ns/div]
Fig. 6. T man anode voltagecaependence on
thegatedri vi ngc.
PULSED POWER GENERATOR SYSTEM FOR GAS LASERS
In a pulsed gas laser, gas di sGharges are Usuauy powered by a voltagepulse withthe amplitude more than 20kV andthe
less than 1OOns. To acOOmpl i Sh theseoutput parameters, it is still difficult for semiamductor power device aloneto beused for the
M pulsed power gemator. Wemade a pulsed power genemr for gas lasers by means of SH-th4?l stors on a tri al basis.
pulse compression scheme is employed to obtain WIr output voltagepulses. The designed and examin& chi t is
Fig.7. Fivestacked SI-thyristors switch theE-invecsion Circuit which comprises two apci to~~ of 32nF. The
theci mi t charges a pzhng capator of 16nF vi a a magnetic switch made of amorpholls more. When the shorted load is
employed, w d o m of turnan vokige, arrent flowing in the SI-thymiors, output voltageof the LC-invecsion circuit, and
termi nal voltageof the peakmg Capacitor are shown h Fig.8. The E& of voltageriseaf 7711s and the output voltageof 22.2kV
wm obtained, that satisfies therequrred voltagemndition for pulsed gas l asers.
Load
Fig. 7. pulsed power gemator withSI-thyr&ors for gas lasers.
957
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B 10
d
0
I B
%lo
*
7
,a
-20
cl
-2%
time [2OOnsec/div]
Fig. 8. Temporal chat.dctenstl . a ofthe pulsed generator for gas l aser.
CONCLUSION
T u c w a of the SI-thyristors isvery closeto the required switchingparameter as afast high power switch for pulse
Opemng switchesby which di scharge circuit is tmml-off are necessatyto construct inductive energy stomgetype pulsedpower
generators. F astt~un- oE cW cs of thedevice shouldbe examined in f i r- ture works. We believe that new concept of a
semi coMduct orpaver~~wi l l becreat ed~mt hevi avpoi nt of pul sedpayer~~~0~.
~ ~ l i c a t i o m in the mediumpower RgiOIL The punchthrwghtype dai ces shavedthee rateof current rise.
RECES
[l] J.L. Hudg~ns and W.M Po-, High dddt Pulse Switching of Thynsbrs, I EEE Trans. on Power ElectronicS, V0l.E-2,
[2] G.J. Rohwin, L.D. Roose, and W.M Po-, pul~ed
Power C ~n f m, AIbuquerque NM, July 1995.
[3] S. Ibuka, T.Mjlazawa, A.- and S.Ishlu, Fast High Voltage Pul se Generation with Nonlinear Transmission Line for High
RepehtiveOperaton , lom IEEE Intemalional pul sed Power Codim, Albuquerque NM, July 1995.
[4] S. I buka, M. Oluushi, T, YamaQ, K. Y m S.Ishu, and K.C. KO, Voltage AmpHcation EEi i of Nonlinear
Transmission Lines for Fast High Voltage PulseGeneration, 1 l& I EEE l ntemati onal Pul sed Paver Confkrence, Bal ti more
MD, June 1997.
p ~ . 143-148, 1987.

on of High Power -IF, 10 I EEE
958