A solid-state 0–120 kV microsecond pulse charger for a nanosecond pulse source

In this paper we present a solid state 0-120 kV microsecond pulse charger for our nanosecond pulse generator [1]. The pulse forming line of our nanosecond pulse generator must be charged with microsecond pulses to prevent pre-firing of its oil spark-gap. The pulse charger consists of two identical compact pulse charger modules with integrated electronics. The electronics are mounted on a compact PCB and consist mainly of a number of parallel connected IGBT's that switch a primary capacitor bank into a pulse transformer. Each pulse charger module can generate 60 kV microsecond pulses into a 250 pF load at 1 kHz repetition rate. Connected together they are able to deliver up to 120 kV into a 100 pF load. This 100 pF load is the pulse forming line of our nanosecond pulse generator at its maximum length of 1 m. The pulse charger is able to operate in an EMI unfriendly environment due to its compact lay-out and optical triggering of the IGBT's.