Developments toward laser diode driven bistable photoconductive switches (BOSS)

Author

Peterkin, F.E. ; Schoenbach, K.H. ; Dougal, R. ; Hudgins, J.

Author_Institution

Phys. Electron. Res. Inst., Old Dominion Univ., Norfolk, VA, USA

Volume

1

fYear

1995

fDate

3-6 July 1995

Firstpage

366

Abstract

The bistable optically-controlled semiconductor switch (BOSS) is the only completely controllable high power solid-state switch which operates on sub-nanosecond to microsecond time scales. The present state of BOSS technology for pulsed power applications is discussed, including the limits of operation and potential extensions of these limits. Experiments to measure the electric field distribution during switching and the threshold breakdown fields for small gap (/spl sime/10´s of /spl mu/m) GaAs switches are described. From these results, operating parameters for a laser diode controlled BOSS configuration are presented.

Keywords

III-V semiconductors; electric fields; gallium arsenide; laser beam applications; optical bistability; photoconducting switches; power semiconductor switches; pulsed power switches; semiconductor device testing; GaAs; bistable optically-controlled semiconductor switch; electric field distribution; laser diode-controlled BOSS; operating limits; photoconductive switch developments; pulsed power applications; small gap GaAs switches; solid-state pulsed power switch; threshold breakdown fields; Diode lasers; Electric breakdown; Electric variables measurement; Optical bistability; Optical control; Optical pulses; Optical switches; Photoconductivity; Power semiconductor switches; Solid state circuits;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Pulsed Power Conference, 1995. Digest of Technical Papers., Tenth IEEE International

Conference_Location

Albuquerque, NM, USA

Print_ISBN

0-7803-2791-8

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/PPC.1995.596507

Filename

596507