Research on Solid-State Marx Generators for Low-Resistance Loads

This article presents a novel all-solid-state Marx circuit topology tailored for low-resistance loads, with the charging current flowing through the load and diodes replacing charging switches, effectively halving the number of fully controlled switches, reducing driver circuitry requirements, and avoiding issues related to switch damage caused by direct conduction in the half-bridge arms. The article commences with an in-depth analysis of the circuit’s operational principles using inductance as the load, followed by the construction of an eight-stage circuit in MATLAB/Simulink to validate the feasibility of the topology, and concludes with the development of an eight-stage power prototype based on theoretical analysis and simulation results, utilizing a helical coil load characterized by equivalent parameters $\text{L}_{\mathrm {S}} = 13.2~\mu \text{H}$ and $\text{R}_{\mathrm {S}}$ = 25 $\text{m}\Omega $ for experimental verification. The results indicate that, when the charging voltage is 800 V, the proposed eight-stage all-solid-state Marx generator can output high-voltage pulses on the inductive load, with a peak voltage of 5.68 kV and a peak current of 834 A, demonstrating stable operation that aligns with theoretical analysis and simulation outcomes. This circuit topology can also be applied to drive low-resistive loads such as plasma sources.