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This paper proposes a solid-state pulsed power modulator (PPM) with fast rising/falling time and high repetition rates to drive pockels cells. Since the proposed circuit is based on the modular structure using silicon carbide (SiC) metal–oxide silicon field-effect transistors (MOSFETs) for bypass devices as well as for main switches, it can achieve fast switching speed and high reliability. In addition, by a control scheme employing the voltage difference, the proposed circuit can accomplish a high repetition rate and short pulsewidth. Design and implementation of 1.8-kV PPMs with repetition rate of 1 MHz and rising/falling time below 6 ns are presented. Also, important issues for the practical use of the SiC-based PPM are discussed. Experimental results from the developed PPMs are shown to verify the proposed works. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a new gate driving circuit for the solid-state pulsed power modulator (SSPPM) based on semiconductor devices. The proposed circuit can be easily implemented by applying a short gate signal to the bypass insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT), i.e., switches connected in parallel with the load instead of a pull-down resistor. The IGBT_BPs are turned on at the end-point of the pulse. It can quickly discharge the pulse voltage applied to the load. In addition, it can operate as bypass diode, which is used to protect the semiconductor switches when the gate signal malfunctions, by using the antiparallel diode of the IGBT. Moreover, power loss in the pull-down resistor used to achieve fast falling pulses can be eliminated by turning off the IGBT while applying the pulse state. Thus, the proposed circuit can be used for implementing SSPPM with small values of falling time and high efficiency. The circuit configuration, operational principle, relevant analysis results, and a PSpice modeling are presented and verified by the 10-kV SSPPM. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]