Study of Short-Pulse Compression Circuit Using a Fast Recovery Diode

There has been various methods of pulsed power generation using semiconductor switch. Semiconductor switching device was indispensable to realize a high repetitive operation of the pulsed power modulator. High repetitive operation of the modulator have contributed to industrial application of pulsed power, but the semiconductor switching device was hard to generate fast rising pulse high voltage directly. In this study, we have employed a fast recovery diode circuit as pulse compression circuit to the pulsed power modulator. Primary switching devices were using Silicon-Carbide based Metal Oxide Semiconductor Field Effect Transistor (SiC-MOSFET), the pulse compression circuit was using a saturable transformer (ST) and a fast recovery diode (FRD). We have investigated the effective saturation timing of the ST for applied reverse current to FRD. We have realized generating a fast rising high voltage pulse using fast recovery characteristics of the diode. The developed modulator can be obtained an output voltage of 45 kV with 2.6 ns voltage rise time.