SBIR-STTR Award

The objective of this proposal is to examine the feasibility of a design for a Photoconductive Semiconductor Switch (PCSS) with an integrated optical trigger that can switch at least 30 kV, 1 kA, 20 ns pulses with jitter <100 ps. The PCSS must be triggered without an external laser and the PCSS/trigger package must have a lifetime of >108 shots. Ness Engineering, Inc. (NEI) and Texas Tech University (TTU) propose to utilize wide bandgap materials to demonstrate lock-on switching and allow much less optical trigger pulse energy to activate the PCSS device. PCSS designs such as this would be useful for a variety of applications, including those identified by the Army: Ultra Wide Band (UWB) sources and ground penetrating radar for use in detecting and potentially neutralizing Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs). NEI and TTU have the unique expertise and facilities to design, construct and test a brassboard prototype photoconductive switch to demonstrate the technology and continue the development through to commercialization. The three researchers on the NEI/TTU team have a combined experience of almost 100 years in pulsed power and solid state device development.

Keywords:
Photoconductive Switching, Pcss, Semiconductor, Compact, Fast Switch

This proposal addresses the problem of PCSS/laser trigger integration using a single monolithic laser diode array, thus simplifying the entire optical delivery network necessary for efficient operation of PCSSs. The proposal constitutes a logical continuation of Phase I effort where the main focus was on the detailed design of the PCSS/laser diode array (LDA) integrated architecture. In Phase II we will fabricate a prototype high-gain, high-power integrated PCSS/laser diode array module paving a way to an ultimate PCSS/LDA package capable of holding off of at least 40kV and having multiple filaments (channels) with total current exceeding many 1 kA.