Solid-state Marx modulator development

A solid-state Marx modulator is under development to supply regulated voltage and current to a high-power magnetron. A primary goal of this design is for the modulator to have low volume and low weight. The modulator is required to provide 5-/spl mu/s-wide rectangular pulses of approximately 45 kV and 145 A at a repetition frequency of 120 Hz. The Marx is composed of 12 circuit boards, with 4 IGBT switched Marx stages per board, for a total of 48 stages. The IGBT Marx switches can be closed and then opened at full-load current, allowing the production of a rectangular pulse from a Marx generator. Single boards and three-board stacks have been tested into a resistive load at operational voltages and currents. Results of the resistive load test are shown.