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Cutoff of the current in plasma opening switches

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 November 2012

SERGEY V. LOGINOV*
Affiliation:
Institute of High Current Electronics SB RAS, Tomsk 634055, Russia (loginov@oit.hcei.tsc.ru)

Abstract

The paper considers the erosion mechanism of operation of nano- and microsecond plasma opening switches (POSs). For this purpose, postulates of the well-known erosion model of the POS operation are reviewed and some remarks on its individual statements are discussed. A voltage scaling for a nanosecond switch with rarefied plasma (~1013 cm−3) is derived. It is shown that the peak voltage across the nanosecond switch on its opening is proportional to the switch conduction current. The formation of an erosion gap in a microsecond switch with high-density plasma (~1015 cm−3) is put to phenomenological analysis and a voltage scaling for the switch is obtained. It is found that in the microsecond switch, unlike the nanosecond switch, the peak voltage is inversely proportional to the switch conduction current.

Type
Papers
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012 

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