Solid-State Spiker-Sustainer Circuit Consisting of PFN and SOS

Pulsed power with a short high-voltage spike followed by a relatively long plateau is called a spiker-sustainer pulse. It has particular applications in the areas related to gas discharge. This article reports a solid-state spiker-sustainer circuit that consists of a pulse-forming network (PFN) and a semiconductor opening switch (SOS). Two switching units using multiple MOS-gated thyristors are used as control switches that enable charging of the PFN and initiate its discharge to the load through the SOS, respectively. The SOS plays the role of sharpening the pulse front as well as generating a high-voltage spike on top of the near-squarewave output of the PFN. The experimental results have demonstrated the expected circuit behavior and the anticipated output waveforms. The development goal is that this circuit can be used as a module so that much high output power can be generated by using multiple modules connected either in parallel or in series, depending on the user’s requirement.