摘要: A study is performed to assess Si and GaAs as materials for realization ofrepetitive, high energy pulsed (RHEP) switches in applications where the switching parameters are blocking voltages (V sub B) exceeding 1 kV in the off-stat... 展开 A study is performed to assess Si and GaAs as materials for realization ofrepetitive, high energy pulsed (RHEP) switches in applications where the switching parameters are blocking voltages (V sub B) exceeding 1 kV in the off-state and conduction currents (I sub F) in excess of 500 A in the on-state, the current risetime being less than 1 microns and the pulse length being longer than 50 ns. Theoretical and technological limitations associated with the switching characteristics of Si and GaAs-based majority carrier (unipolar) and minority carrier (bipolar) devices in the low field, high mobility, and high field. velocity saturation regimes are analyzed and discussed. It is concluded that for medium power applications (V sub BI sub F < 300 kW, V sub B > 1 kV), majority carrier devices are best suited for fast switching processes in the low field, low current density (J<100 A/cm2) regime. Under such conditions, the high drift mobility of GaAs allows for realization of field-effect devices exhibiting fast switching speeds and low on-state conduction losses. For pulsed switching in the high power regime (300 kW < V sub BI sub F < 30 MW, V sub B > l kV), bipolar structures exhibit the most desirable characteristics, while as compared to their Si counterparts, the on-state conduction losses of GaAs-based devices are extremely high. These considerations are extended to stacked Si bipolar devices and Semi-Insulating GaAs photoconductive switches for ultra high power (>30 MW) switching applications. 收起