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High Voltage Solid-State Switches
High voltage and pulsed power applications imply always a certain risk of sparking and flash over by nature, especially if the ambient conditions, operating conditions, or load conditions change unexpectedly. Therefore, the peak current capability of a solid-state switch should be always as high as possible, at the very least higher than the possible short circuit current of the application. Regarding the selection of voltage rating we suggest a safety margin of at least 5 % for MOSFET switches and at least 20 % for all bipolar switches (IGBT, MCT, SCR) to minimize the risk of damage by unexpected voltage fluctuation or unexpected flyback-voltage. The long-term reliabillty, respectively, the Mean Time Between Failures (MTBF) of a high voltage solid-state switch is always a function of its operating temperature. Therefore, we highly recommend operating the switches only at moderate temperatures whenever possible. This is achieved primarily by choosing sufficient on-resistance, current capability, natural capacitance and coupling capacitance. Please refer to the data sheets and the following product surveys for further information.
SCR Thyristor Switches:
• High peak current capability
• Very overload tolerant
• Extremely high di/dt
• Easy firing by a simple TTL trigger pulse
(2-5 V)
General Purpose MOSFET:
• Very EMC tolerant
• Absolutely noise free in on and off state
• Low control power at high frequency
High di/dt MOSFET:
• On-time controllable by TTL signal
• Extremely low impedance
• Excellent dv/dt immunity against HV transients
High Voltage Pulser Units:
• HV switches in pulser configuration
• No external components required
• All pulsers optimized for system integration
• Laboratory pulsers are always CE certified
Fast Recovery HV Diode Assemblies:
• Free-wheeling diodes for HTS solid-state switches
• Soft recovery characteristics
• High peak current capability
• Very low inductance, Short recovery time
| Switches | On-Time Description | Maximum Voltage | Maximum Current | Switch On-time | Category |
| SCR/Thyristor | Current Depending | 4 - 150 kV | 1 - 24 kA | > 35 us | A |
| Standard MOSFET | Fixed | 2 - 200 kV | 15 - 1600 A | 100 - 300 ns | B1 |
| High di/dt MOSFET | Fixed | 0.5 - 40 kV | 70 - 1600 A | 150 ns | B2 |
| Ultrafast MOSFET | Fixed | 3 - 12 kV | 60 - 200 A | 120 - 200 ns | B3 |
| Low On-Res. MOSFET | Fixed | 3 - 24 kV | 60 - 1040 A | 150 - 250 ns | B4 |
| Standard MOSFET | Variable | 0.5 - 36 kV | 12 - 640 A | > 50 ns | C1 |
| High di/dt MOSFET | Variable | 3 - 36 kV | 200 - 3200 A | > 300 ns | C2 |
| Low C MOSFET | Variable | 3 - 140 kV | 30 - 4000 A | > 60 ns | C3 |
| Low On-Res. Trench FET | Variable | 0.5 - 160 kV | 125 - 6000 A | > 120 ns | C4 |
| AC voltage MOSFET | Variable | 1.2 - 140 kV | 12 - 400 A | > 50 ns | C5 |
| General Purpose IGBT | Variable | 3 - 36 kV | 800 - 9600 A | > 0.2 us | C6 |
| MCT Thyristor | Variable | 4 - 18 kV | 3000 A | > 1 us | C7 |
| Push-Pull MOSFET | Variable | 2 x 1.2 - 140 kV | 2 x 12 - 300 A | > 50 ns | C8 |
| AC Push-Pull MOSFET | Variable | 2 x 3 - 140 kV | 2 x 12 - 130 A | > 70 ns | C9 |
| HV Pulser Units | Variable | 3 - 12 kV | 12 - 80 A | > 4 ns | D |
| HV Diode Assemblies | E | ||||
| Direct Liquid Cooling | F |