Power Flow Management in a Diode-Directed Solid-State Marx Modulator

The increasing capability of solid-state components has resulted in their expanded use in high-power modulators. One concern in using solid-state switches in high-power modulators is the vulnerability of these switches to over-voltage transients. Protecting the switches is one of the many design challenges of solid-state modulators. Diode-directed Marx modulators have an ability to protect solid-state switches from over-voltage transients by routing the transient energy around the switches and returning it to the stage capacitors. The inherent switch protection capability of a diode-directed Marx modulator is described in this paper and experimental results are shown