Synthesized High-Frequency Thyristor for Dielectric Barrier Discharge Excimer Lamps

Dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) lamps, being capacitive loads, must be associated with bidirectional current sources for an appropriate control of the transferred power. Pulsed current source supplies, which are known to offer very interesting performances, require specific power switches that are able to manage bidirectional voltage and unidirectional current at much higher frequencies (several hundreds of kilohertz) than commercial thyristors. This paper proposes the detailed design of such a high-speed synthesized thyristor, using discrete components: a MOSFET in series with a high-voltage (HV) diode and a logic circuit that controls its gate. This switch is associated with an optimized self-powered driver, which is a very efficient solution to handle the perturbations associated with the HV and high-frequency operation. Experimental application of this device for DBD excimer lamp supply is proposed.