Design of the solid state Marx Modulator

The design of the Marx Modulator is based on oil-free, air-cooled, and capable of delivering 120kV, 140A, 1600usec pulses at a rate of 5Hz. The Marx modulator design employs a stack of sixteen 12kV Marx modules that generate high-voltage output pulses directly from a 12kV input supply voltage. This direct switching eliminates the requirement for a massive transformer reduces the capacitor bank size by more than a factor of four, yielding a considerably cheaper and more compact mechanical solution. Advantages of the ILC Marx design include higher efficiency, smaller physical size, and a modular architecture that provides greater reliability and cost- effective PC board-level integration.