Development of a semiconductor switch for high power copper vapor lasers

A semiconductor switch utilizing 2.5 kV, 1 kA flat packaged IGBTs, twenty pieces connected in series and two in parallel, was developed for high power copper vapor laser (CVL) excitation. Its voltage and current ratings are 31 kV and 2600 A, respectively. Since the flat packaged IGBT has no internal wiring, it is considered inherently suitable for the applications under high di/dt condition. Moreover, a low inductance coaxial construction was adopted, and an ultra short pulse of 300 ns was achieved. Furthermore, from the experimental results with an actual CVL amplifier, it is confirmed that the semiconductor switch has sufficient performance as the main switch of the pulsed power supply of the high power CVL.