ELECTRON-BEAM CONTROLLED SEMICONDUCTOR SWITCH

ELECTRON BEAM CONTROLLED GAAS SWITCHES, OPERATING IN THE LINEAR MODE OR BEING TRIGGERED INTO A SEMIPERMANENT CONDUCTING STATE ARE BEING DEVELOPED IN THIS WORK, AS SWITCHES FOR PULSED POWER SYSTEMS INCLUDING LINEAR INDUCTION ACCELERATORS. KEY ADVANTAGES ARE: HIGH REPETITION RATE (MHZ), SMALL DELAY AND JITTER (<NSEC), CLOSING AND OPENING CAPABILITY, HIGH EFFICIENCY DRIVER, SCALEABLE IN CURRENT, AND VOLTAGE. ELECTRON BEAM CONTROLLED SEMICONDUCTOR SWITCHES, LIKE LASER CONTROLLED PHOTOCONDUCTIVE SWITCHES, ARE ATTRACTIVE BECAUSE THEY HAVE THE POTENTIAL TO SWITCH HIGH POWERS WITH LOW JITTER, AND VOLTAGE FALL TIMES OF NSEC. ELECTRON BEAM DRIVERS ARE HIGHLY EFFICENT WHEN COMPARED TO THE LASERS REQUIRED BY PHOTOCONDUCTIVE SWITCHES. THE OVERALL TECHNICAL OBJECTIVE OF THIS WORK IS TO DEMONSTRATE THE FEASIBILITY OF PRODUCING THE SWITCHES INCORPORATING BOTH THE ELECTRON BEAM DRIVER AND THE GAAS SWITCH IN A SINGLE MODULAR UNIT.