Time Jitter Study of a Corona-Stabilized Closing Switch

Switching time jitter is an important property to consider when selecting a closing switch for a pulsed-power system. In this paper, the time jitter of a commercially available corona-stabilized switch (CSS) is studied, and the switching sequence of events is analyzed in detail. The time jitter of the CSS switch is found to be less than 5 ns for an operating voltage range of 15-50 kV. The pressure of the CSS switch has to be adjusted in the range of 50-150 kPa for proper operation of the switch. To achieve this time jitter on a system level, the rise time and time jitter of the trigger pulse must be carefully considered.