| Abstract |
Presently gas thyratron is used as a switching device in most high power laser systems. Recent advances in power semiconductor development now make these new devices a promising alternative. The advantages of semiconductor solid state switches are long lifetime, no deterioration, very slight jitter, high frequency, low power losses (1). Finally, power semiconductors are more reliable than thyratrons. Consequently new switching systems using semiconductor devices are being studied. Power MOSFETs (2) and IGBTs (3) offer a simpler altemative. The advantages are the simplicity of the driving circuit and their high switching speed. But applications of these devices are limited to maximum voltage, generally up to 1000/1500V. However, fast power switches with voltage ratings much higher than those of single fast switching can be made by connecting these devices in series. This paper presents and discusses the value of the Master/Slave principle series connection. The Master/Slave principle is evaluated with the circuit simulator PSPICE. |
