Special 10kV solid state power modulator for plasma immersion ion implantation treatment of industrial bearings

Summary form only given. We have recently developed a 10kV solid state power modulator for the processing of industrial bearings by plasma immersion ion implantation. According to our research results, high energy implantation is not preferred in the treatment of industrial bearings because of the geometry of the races, and a dedicated and less expensive power supply will suffice. In our new design, optical communication modules are used to synchronize the control pulse of each IGBT and a new method is used to generate power for the IGBT gate drive in the solid state modulator In addition to a maximum voltage of 10kV, our inexpensive power modulator can output pulses 2 to 100 microseconds in duration with a rise time of 2 microseconds. The maximum pulsing frequency is 2kHz. We will present the details of the design and the experimental results in this paper.