Instability of vacuum arc in Ag-Cu contact alloys

To clarify the effect of contact material characteristics on the arc instability and chopping phenomena, the spectrum intensity of ionized and neutral vapor generated continuously during discharge is measured using contacts of Ag-Cu binary alloys. It is observed that arc instability and chopping are closely related to the behavior of the ionized vapor during discharge. The chopping current decreases with increased Ag content, while the instability-initiating current has a minimum value at 60 at.% Ag content. These effects are discussed from the viewpoint of the ion generation capability, including thermal properties, of contact materials     

Measurement and Statistical Simulation of Multiple Reignitions in Vacuum Switches

When the gap length of a vacuum switch at current zero is too small, successive reignitions and extinctions may occur under certain circuit conditions leading to overvoltages. This process of "virtual chopping" is more likely to happen when the contacts accidentally open shortly before current zero. In order to determine the values of the overvoltage and its probability when opening the contacts randomly, a computer program was developed which simulates the transient recovery voltage (TRV) in a single-phase circuit and determines the highest voltage for each switching operation. The moment of contact opening is simulated by pseudorandom numbers. Input data of the calculation are the circuit parameters, the reignition voltage of the gap versus time after current zero, and its capability of quenching the high-frequency current oscillation occurring after a reignition. These recovery data of the opening gap were determined experimentally for some contact materials using a special switching device in a synthetic test circuit with current injection.     

Current Chopping Introduced by Arc Collapse

The intensive cooling by a moving gas can cause violent elongations and curls of the circuit breaker arc, especially when small currents are interrupted. During the elongation the arc voltage increases rapidly. This introduces a breakdown across a smaller distance by short circuiting a part of the arc. Such a breakdown is called here arc colapse. The abrupt decrease in resistance and arc voltage may give rise to an oscillating discharge of the circuit breaker parallel capacitance into the arc path. This oscillation can force the main current to zero and thus cause current chopping. In this paper this kind of current chopping is studied and compared with chopping by instability oscillation. It is theoretically explained why these independent origins for chopping produce the same chopping levels.     

The Investigation of Copper-Chromium Contacts in Vacuum Interrpters Subjected to an Axial Magnetic Field

The characteristics of a vacuum arc between CuCr contacts under an axial magnetic field have been investigated. Test samples were made of CuCr contacts, and the arcing voltage was measured. The arcing voltage of the CuCr contacts under an axial magnetic field is lower than that of pure copper contacts by 10-20 V. From the measurement of the post-arc current and interruption test results, it was found that the arc concentrates and a part of the electrode melts at a rather low current, but that the electrode melting does not affect the interrupting capability. Also, the insulation characteristics were measured. With respect to voltage conditioning, high-current conditioning improved the breakdown voltage by 50 percent for a 20-mm gap and by 100 percent for a 3-mm gap. These test results show that CuCr contacts, used with axial magnetic fields, are promising for use in high-voltage and high-power vacuum interrupters.     

Neutral copper vapor density and electric recovery after forcedextinction of vacuum arcs

Dielectric recovery data were obtained for vacuum arcs between chromium copper butt contacts 30 mm in diameter and 2 mm apart. The 50-Hz arc current was forced to zero at its maximum of 200 A in about 1 μs. Following current zero, high-voltage pulses of a sufficient amplitude to always cause breakdown were applied to the gap. Gap recovery is characterized by the measured breakdown voltage as a function of time. Dielectric strength of the gap rises sharply within the first few microseconds after current zero, reaching its final value in about 10 μs. Neutral copper concentration in the center of the gap was measured by laser-induced fluorescence under conditions very similar to those of the recovery measurements. In contrast to the fast gap recovery, the copper vapor concentration does not change substantially during the first 100 μs from its value of 1.4×10¹⁸ m ^-3 near current zero. It is concluded that the neutral copper vapor concentration does not play a decisive role in gap recovery under these experimental conditions. This is corroborated by the fact that the mean free path for electron-impact ionization of copper atoms exceeds the gap length by four orders of magnitude     

Specifics of operation of a cold-cathode thyratron with a backward voltage half-wave

The specifics of operating a metal-ceramic TPI1-10k/50 thyratron in electric circuits with capacitance, inductance, and active resistance have been examined under circuit parameters that establish oscillatory current. Experiments have been performed at an anode voltage as high as 30 kV, a forward current of up to 7.6 kA, and a length of the first current half-period that varies from 0.38 to 1.9 μs. The data on operating modes in which this thyratron may handle a backward current wave and when current interruption is observed in the second half-period have been obtained. It has been demonstrated that a certain current flows through the thyratron in the backward direction during the interruption process. The amplitude of this current and the maximum backward voltage at the thyratron define whether the current is interrupted or repeat back-voltage device breakdown occurs. If the maximum backward current is on the level of several hundred amperes, complete current interruption occurs at backward voltages of up to 12 kV. The physical mechanisms of current interruption have been discussed.     

Triggered discharges with high arc voltages in a vacuum interrupter

Studies of nonsustained disruptive discharges (NSDDs), isolated cases of which can occur in vacuum interrupters, indicate lateral discharges between the cathode and shield, which can initiate a brief discharge between the contacts. To facilitate the study of such discharges, the sample discharges were triggered by a surface discharge induced by a spark gap, built into the side of the cathode, and observed with a high-speed film camera and image-converter camera. The tests showed a cathode spot after igniting. The emitted electrons first charge the shield negatively and then are directed toward the anode. The discharge burns at a high voltage, with current ranging from 10 to 100 A. After a period of up to 400 μs, the current demand increases abruptly; an arc discharge occurs between the contacts and discharges the capacitances near the switch. The contact gap undergoes a rapid dielectric recovery, and the restored voltage is maintained. These types of discharge were also observed with NSDDs; thus it can be assumed that the triggered discharges studied correspond to the NSDD type     

Spin transport and relaxation in graphene

We review our recent work on spin injection, transport and relaxation in graphene. The spin injection and transport in single layer graphene (SLG) were investigated using nonlocal magnetoresistance (MR) measurements. Spin injection was performed using either transparent contacts (Co/SLG) or tunneling contacts (Co/MgO/SLG). With tunneling contacts, the nonlocal MR was increased by a factor of ∼1000 and the spin injection/detection efficiency was greatly enhanced from ∼1% (transparent contacts) to ∼30%. Spin relaxation was investigated on graphene spin valves using nonlocal Hanle measurements. For transparent contacts, the spin lifetime was in the range of 50-100 ps. The effects of surface chemical doping showed that for spin lifetimes in the order of 100 ps, charged impurity scattering (Au) was not the dominant mechanism for spin relaxation. While using tunneling contacts to suppress the contact-induced spin relaxation, we observed the spin lifetimes as long as 771 ps at room temperature, 1.2 ns at 4 K in SLG, and 6.2 ns at 20 K in bilayer graphene (BLG). Furthermore, contrasting spin relaxation behaviors were observed in SLG and BLG. We found that Elliot-Yafet spin relaxation dominated in SLG at low temperatures whereas Dyakonov-Perel spin relaxation dominated in BLG at low temperatures. Gate tunable spin transport was studied using the SLG property of gate tunable conductivity and incorporating different types of contacts (transparent and tunneling contacts). Consistent with theoretical predictions, the nonlocal MR was proportional to the SLG conductivity for transparent contacts and varied inversely with the SLG conductivity for tunneling contacts. Finally, bipolar spin transport in SLG was studied and an electron-hole asymmetry was observed for SLG spin valves with transparent contacts, in which nonlocal MR was roughly independent of DC bias current for electrons, but varied significantly with DC bias current for holes. These results are very important for the use of graphene for spin-based logic and information storage applications.     

150 kV全固态高压脉冲发生器设计

设计了一种基于全固态MOSFET半导体开关器件的Marx脉冲发生器。充电回路用快恢复二极管代替充电电阻,减小了充电部分功率损耗;将主电路和驱动电路集成在一起,采用自取电模式给驱动电路供电;由光纤传输驱动信号,抑制了放电回路对触发信号的干扰;采用顺/逆时针方向环形分布的紧凑型拓扑结构,不仅减小了回路电感,而且实现了脉冲发生器的小型化与模块化。所设计的Marx发生器充电部分仅需提供900 V低压,用180级单元串联,获得最高幅值为150 kV、脉宽1~5 s可调的高压快脉冲,前沿控制在500 ns以内。利用该脉冲发生器在50 k电阻和5 pF电容并联的等效负载上进行了一系列实验;比较分析了脉冲发生器工作过程中影响脉冲上升沿的几个主要因素,包括回路电感、MOSFET驱动电压及主回路分布电容等,并讨论了提升脉冲前沿的技术措施。     

On the behavior and stability of a liquid metal in quasi-planar electric contacts

The contacts between conductors formed under relatively low pressures can be treated as quasi-planar. Melting of the material of such contacts upon the passage of electric current is used in some technological processes, but the behavior of liquid in these conditions has not been analyzed. In this study, such an estimate was obtained for specific conditions appearing under electric-pulse compacting (briquetting) of metal shavings. Analysis of derived relations shows that this estimate is valid for any quasi-2D contacts upon passage of a pulsed current of duration from microseconds to milliseconds. It is shown that the spacing between contact surfaces decreases, the liquid metal is extruded in the lateral directions, and the area of the contact and its conductivity increase. Sausage-type magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) instability and overheating instability do not evolve in these conditions because the instability wavelength is larger than the rated thickness of the molten layer; screw MHD instability can appear in slower processes.     

陡化前沿Marx发生器的设计与初步实验

 设计了10级同轴结构的陡化前沿Marx发生器,实现了电容储能型脉冲功率调制系统的小型化。该系统采用3 nF低电感电容器作为储能电容,采用固体电阻作为充电电阻,通过各级短间隙气体火花开关迅速放电及级间紫外光耦合在50 Ω负载上建立了陡化前沿的输出电压波形。在考虑开关电极分散电容、等效传输线效应及回路电感等因素基础上,利用自击穿火花开关模型建立了等效放电电路模型,并利用PSpice电路模拟软件进行了数值模拟。根据数值模拟结果设计加工了10级陡化前沿的Marx发生器实验装置,在较低充电电压下（7 kV与11 kV）,得到了初步实验结果,输出电压波形大致为方波,相对于传统Marx发生器输出前沿缓慢的三角波有较大改善,半高宽为40~50 ns,前沿时间为十几ns,幅值约为41 kV和57.5 kV,实验结果与模拟结果基本一致。     

Properties of Mott contacts with an ultralow metal-semiconductor barrier

The current-voltage and capacitance characteristics of Mott contacts with an ultralow metal-semiconductor barrier are investigated. The analysis is based on the analytical solution of the Poisson equation for the space charge of carriers in the “metal-i-layer-n ⁺-substrate” structure without regard for bulk doping of the i layer. For contacts with ultralow metal-semiconductor barriers (comparable in magnitude to the thermal energy of charge carries), it is demonstrated that the reverse current becomes greater than the forward current, the sign of rectification is reversed, and the capacitance of the contact acquires a strong dependence on the voltage. This means that the mechanism of nonlinearity of the structure changes and the nonlinearity governed by charge carriers injected into the i layer becomes dominant. In a specific range of bias voltages close to zero, the differential resistance and the capacitance of the structure exponentially increase with increasing voltage. The observed behavior is not typical of conventional metal-semiconductor contacts. The obtained dependences of the electric current and capacitance on the voltage determine the characteristics of new advanced instruments, in particular, highly sensitive microwave detectors operating without a bias voltage.     

Anomalies in the electrophysical, thermal, and elastic properties of layered ferroelectric semiconductor TlGaSe2: Instability in the electronic subsystem

The temperature dependences of the permittivity, dark current, and current-voltage characteristics of the layered ferroelectric semiconductor TlGaSe₂ were measured over the range 77–300 K. The ε(T) curve measured perpendicular to the layers at low frequencies is discovered for the first time to exhibit an anomalous dip with clearly defined boundaries at ～150 and ～200 K. Electrical instability in the form of low-frequency oscillations of current in current-voltage characteristics of a sample in the same temperature range are also observed experimentally for the first time. It is shown that this instability occurs only if an electric field is applied to a sample using potential-controlling contactless electrodes in the form of thin mica spacer layers. The nature of the instability and its influence on various physical properties of the layered TlGaSe₂ crystal are discussed.     

Experimental evaluation of the forming process of virgin HfO2 memory cells by capacitance–voltage measurements

In this Letter, we evaluate the so‐called forming process of virgin HfO₂ cells under ac and dc stress by capacitance–voltage measurements. It is found that the ac nonlinearity is higher than the dc one. This is related to the dispersive nature of hopping conduction according to the electrode polarization model. Under short stress times, both capacitance and current are unaffected. However, after longer stress times, no recovery is observed. Consequently, the current increases and a plateau appears in the capacitance. The observed degradation is consistent with the RRAMs‐forming process. (© 2014 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

On the Role of Capacitance Determination Accuracy for the Electrical Characterization of Pulsed Driven Dielectric Barrier Discharges

A dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) of coaxial geometry has been investigated. The discharge cell was filled by 100 mbar of argon and driven by positive square voltage pulses with a rise time of 20 ns and 75 ns. The internal discharge characteristics such as the discharge current, the gas gap voltage, the instantaneous power and energy have been determined from measured current and voltage waveforms. The peculiarities of the experimental evaluation of the discharge parameters are discussed in detail. Special attention is paid to the accurate experimental determination of the key capacitance values of the DBD, namely the capacitance of the reactor cell C_cell and the capacitance of the dielectric barriers C_d. The influence of the capacitance value accuracy on precision of electrical characterization is demonstrated and it is shown that a small uncertainty in the C_d value leads to large errors in the evaluation of the gas gap voltage. Nevertheless, the obtained accuracy of the capacitance values allows the reliable comparison of the electrical DBD parameters. These are sensitive to the mode of discharge excitation. The shortening of the voltage rise time leads to the increase of the total and instantaneous energy as well as the peak power dissipated into the discharge. (© 2013 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

基于能量色散-X射线荧光光谱方法对轻稀土料液配分含量的在线测定

稀土精矿分离出单一稀土元素的工艺过程属于连续流程制造,多采用人工取样-ICP实验室分析测试的方法进行工艺监测与控制,检测结果滞后于生产实际,可能造成产品质量不稳定等后果。实验基于能量色散X射线荧光光谱技术,建立了一种在线测定稀土分离过程中稀土配分含量的方法。通过对北方稀土典型元素镧、铈、镨、钕的能量色散-X射线荧光光谱特征分析,利用多元逐步回归从稀土混合料液中剥离出单一稀土元素信号。依据相对理论偏差对滤光片、管压、管流等条件进行优化,为稀土配分含量在线分析奠定了基础。开发了XOR-50稀土配分在线分析设备和在线检测方法,快速反映稀土分离萃取工艺状况,提供实时的在线萃取数据,为工艺调整提供精准可靠的数据支撑。研究结果显示,采用0.2 mm Al滤光片,25 kV光管激发电压,1 100 μA光管电流的测试条件,同一样品的稀土元素配分含量连续11次测定的相对标准偏差小于1%;现场分析结果与ICP-AES检测结果相符。镧,铈,镨,钕等轻稀土元素的仪器检出限小于5 μg·mL-1,完全满足稀土配分在线监测对准确性和可靠性要求。     

单壳层喷气Z箍缩内爆特性分析

在“阳”加速器（电流峰值为500—850 kA,上升时间约为85 ns）上利用单壳层喷气负载开展了Z箍缩等离子体内爆实验,获得了等离子体的辐射产额、X光辐射图像等诊断结果.利用相应的诊断结果,定义了内爆时间,对内爆过程的主要阶段进行了划分,研究了等离子体位形、辐射强度分布等实验现象,同时对等离子体的内爆轨迹、内爆质量、径向收缩比、磁流体不稳定性等进行了初步分析. 关键词： Z箍缩')" href="#">喷气负载Z箍缩 等离子体内爆 X光辐射功率 “阳”加速器     

基于最小电压法的超声换能器谐振频率自动跟踪*

首先分析了最大电流法跟踪超声换能器谐振频率的原理及应用范围。研究了基于由串联电感和并联电容匹配电路下,不同频率时换能器两端电压电流的变化规律。研究表明在串联电感和并联电容匹配电路下发生谐振时,换能器两端的电压最小而电流并非最大。由此形成了采用最小电压法跟踪谐振频率的自动跟踪策略,并给出了该方法的具体实施步骤。论文研究结果为换能器谐振频率的自动跟踪方法提供了新的选择。     

Z箍缩实验装置高压低抖动Marx发生器

 中物院的初级实验平台(PTS)低抖动Marx发生器由60个标称电压为100 kV、电容量为1 mF电容器和30个低抖动环轨式场畸变开关构成,采用以S型线路为基础的超前触发型电路。近千次实验结果表明：在工作欠压比71%、触发电压200 kV的条件下,Marx发生器的建立时间175 ns,抖动极差小于±10.0 ns,均方根抖动小于7.0 ns。Marx发生器的串联电感13.5 mH,串联电阻3.2 W,在电容器充电80 kV时,实验测得输出电压4.3 MV, Marx发生器电压建立时间175 ns,与电路模拟结果（输出电压为4.6 MV,电压建立时间160 ns）吻合良好。     

Current-induced transverse spin-wave instability in a thin nanomagnet

We show that an unpolarized electric current incident perpendicular to the plane of a thin ferromagnet can excite a spin-wave instability transverse to the current direction if source and drain contacts are not symmetric. The instability, which is driven by the current-induced "spin-transfer torque," exists for one current direction only.