Time jitter studies of a corona-stabilised closing switch

Switching time jitter is an important property to consider when selecting a closing switch for a pulsed-power system. In this work, the time jitter of a commercially available corona-stabilised switch (CSS) is studied. The time jitter of the CSS switch is found to be less than 5 ns for an operating voltage range of 15 – 50 kV. The pressure of the CSS switch has to be adjusted in the range of 50 – 150 kPa for proper operation of the switch. To achieve this time jitter on a system level, the trigger pulse rise time and time jitter must be carefully considered.