Pulsed-power switching by power semiconductor devices

Summary form only given. Repetitive pulsed high-voltage modulators have been developed for industrial applications. They have used the most up-to-date power semiconductor devices such as power MOSFETs, silicon carbide JFETs, static-induction thyristors (SIThy), and semiconductor opening switches (SOS). As a new kind of high-energy particle accelerator, induction synchrotron requires pulsed high-voltage modulators with repetition rate on the order of 1 MHz. A test unit of stacked MOSFET has been successfully developed and tested for continuous operation. In the same time, SIThy and SiC-FET are also investigated for their performance as potential substitutes to MOSFET. A pulsed high-voltage generator using SOS has been developed for applications in sterilization. It consists of a primary unit which is switched by an IGBT and a secondary unit where two magnetic switches and an SOS are used. A pulse transformer is used to multiply the voltage between the two units. The output voltage pulses are of 60 kV in peak value and 50 ns in pulse width, with continuous repetition rate of 1 kHz