Investigation on the generation of high voltage quasi-square pulses with a specific two-node PFN-Marx circuit

A specific multi-stage two-node pulse forming network (PFN)-Marx topology circuit, which can produce high voltage quasi-square pulses, is investigated and designed in this paper. The specificity of this circuit is that the PFN-Marx is formed by several uniform ladder networks that have two sections of the LC unit and a ladder network formed by four-node capacitors. Compared with conventional PFN-Marx generators formed by equal-value capacitors and inductors with more than four nodes, the number of capacitors in the circuit designed here can be reduced significantly. A five-stage two-node PFN-Marx is assembled to verify the validity of the topology circuit. The experimental results show that the PFN-Marx can generate a quasi-square pulse with a pulse width of 105 ns, flat-top of 50 ns, and amplitude of 80 kV with ±3% voltage variation. The topology circuit design is promising to achieve higher voltage (more stages) and longer pulse width.