The Driving Conditions for Obtaining Subnanosecond High-Voltage Pulses From a Silicon-Avalanche-Shaper Diode

Silicon-avalanche-shaper (SAS) diodes are fast-closing switches capable of producing high-voltage pulses with a rise time of ~100 ps. The SAS can be driven by a positive, nanosecond scale, high-voltage pulse applied to its cathode where the magnitude of the driving pulse is correlated to the magnitude of the pulse at the SAS anode (output). Drift-step-recovery diodes (DSRDs) are fast-opening switches capable of producing high-voltage pulses with a rise time of the order of 1 ns. Thus, DSRDs are good candidates for driving SAS diodes. In this paper, the SAS output is studied with respect to its driving conditions. First, the SAS output is examined with respect to the magnitude and rise time of the driving pulse, utilizing three DSRDs to produce pulses with various rise times from 0.5 to 5 ns. In addition, the effect of the driving pulse repetition frequency (PRF) on the SAS output is studied. An experimental demonstration using a 1.5-kV SAS fabricated at the Ioffe Physical Technical Institute shows the advantage of driving the SAS with the short, 0.5 ns, pulses, and the degradation of performance due to high PRF, up to 10 MHz.