Bipolar solid state arbitrary-waveform Marx generator for capacitive loads

This paper describes the operation of a solid-state Marx generator capable of delivery multilevel and arbitrary bipolar waveforms into resistive and capacitive type loads. A flexible FPGA based trigger control enables the independent operation of each stage, on and off, so that the output load voltage is the sum of each stage and the voltage of an individual stage if never affected by other stages. The results obtained from a 5-stages modulator, each with 1 kV, frequency, for rectangular, triangular and other type of waveforms, achieving a maximum of 11 voltage levels (5 positive, 5 negative and zero volts), into resistive and capacitive type loads are presented and discussed.