High Voltage, High Current, Solid State Switches

This topic examines current state-of-the-art in solid state switches and develops a design that goes beyond today's capabilities. The Extreme Break-Over Diode (SBOD) switch represents enabling technology for defense applications requiring compact size and weight, long lifetime, fast turn on, fast turn off time, and high-efficiency triggering. OptiSwitch demonstrated experimentally, its first-generation Extreme Break Over Diode (XBOD). The XBOD fast turn on is achieved using low energy displacement current excited by a capacitively coupled high voltage pulse. The Silicon XBOD design will be improved for speed using electron irradiation and epitaxial fabrication techniques. An XBOD design using Silicon Carbide will be created and is expected to be the ultimate solution in pulse power switching.