Evaluation of a Pulsed Ultraviolet Light-Emitting Diode for Triggering Photoconductive Semiconductor Switches

Daniel Mauch, Cameron Hettler, William W. Sullivan, Andreas A. Neuber, James Dickens

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

3 Scopus citations

Abstract

The power output, forward voltage, conversion efficiency, and spectral characteristics of a 365 nm ultraviolet light-emitting diode (LED) were measured for applications of triggering wide-bandgap photoconductive switches for pulsed power applications. Pulsed currents through the LED ranged from 125 mA up to 2.2 A at widths from 10 μs up to several seconds. Using time-resolved electroluminescence spectroscopy, peak emission was observed to occur at 368.5 nm for short pulses with a red-shift to 371.8 nm for pulses 8 s in duration. A peak light output of 4.1 W was measured for short pulses (<50μs of 2.12 A, corresponding to six times the rated output specification. The LED was used to trigger a high-voltage photoconductive semiconductor switch (PCSS) at voltages up to 6 kV into a high-impedance load. The 365 nm LED is a promising candidate for optical triggering of PCSS devices.

Original languageEnglish
Article number7151899
Pages (from-to)2182-2186
Number of pages5
JournalIEEE Transactions on Plasma Science
Volume43
Issue number7
DOIs
StatePublished - Jul 1 2015

Keywords

  • Light-emitting diode (LED)
  • photoconducting devices
  • photoconductivity
  • power semiconductor switches
  • pulsed power
  • silicon carbide

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