I. Introduction
Renewing interest in compact vacuum technologies, particle accelerators in particular, as well as increasingly widespread commercial applications for ionizing radiation produced by such technologies was the motivating factor that drove us to consider the alternative solutions for high-voltage power conditioning topologies [1]–[4]. A high-voltage power source based on a piezoelectric transformer married to a voltage multiplier circuit suitable for compact accelerator technologies has been developed and characterized. The operating parameters of the circuit have been evaluated using a resistive load to simulate basic black box characteristics, demonstrating that the circuit is capable of generating up to 16 kV into a 1- load. The circuit was also coupled to a point-plane vacuum diode to induce field emission current; the X-rays produced by this arrangement exhibited an endpoint energy of up to 21 keV with an associated electron beam current of approximately .