High-Power Dielectric Diode Studies at Sandia National Laboratory

Our research was mainly concentrated on the physics of semiconductor diodes and especially on measuring the reverse recovery times and currents. In addition, we explored the effect of the reverse bias pulses on a diode still under reverse recovery times. Therefore, we tested the diode cartridges only up to 40% of the scale of that of LANL. We utilized our Component Test Stand (CTS-I) facility modified to power two diode cartridges connected in parallel to a common load (CTS-II). We varied the charge voltage and interpulse separations between the two diode cartridges. In this article, we will describe the modifications of CTS leading to CTS-II and present and analyze the obtained results.