All-Solid-State Ultrashort Pulse Generator by Capacitive Chopping Circuit

High-voltage ultrashort pulse (HVUSP) is attaching more attention to advanced biomedicine. In this article, a capacitive chopping circuit (CCC) topology with all-solid-state switches is proposed, which can generate adjustable HVUSP with high power efficiency. The dual capacitors of opposite polarity are connected in series with the load, thus cutting off the discharge loop of a single capacitor and chopping out a narrow pulse with adjustable width. The CCC can be stacked modularly for higher amplitude. The working principle is analyzed and the power efficiency under different working conditions is simulated, along with the existing modularized HVUSP generation topologies. Finally, an eight-staged all-solid-state prototype based on the proposed CCC topology is developed. The adjustability of pulse parameters and staged performance is tested. The pulsewidth can be compressed to less than 10 ns at 6.5 kV. Output parameters can satisfy HVUSP electroporation in the biological scene.