Light activated semiconductors for ETC pulsed power applications

The integration of a capacitive pulsed power supply system into a combat fighting vehicle with ETC weaponization requires the development of compact PPS modules with a high reliability of their energy storage and pulse forming components. To fulfill these requirements a variety of switch technologies have been investigated for many years. This paper gives first results of the investigations on a new type of a semiconducting switch which is activated directly by an optical trigger input. The attractiveness of this switch is its lower trigger power requirement, its compact set-up, and its high reliability. Integrated breakdown diodes prevent the switch from a damage in case of a malfunction of the trigger system of one wafer. A high voltage set-up of this switch technology was tested under ETC conditions. The paper presents the test set-up as well as the results obtained from the experiments. In the conclusion of the paper, the impacts of this switch technology on the development of future ETC gun PPS modules is discussed.