Diamond avalanche diodes for obtaining high-voltage pulse with subnanosecond front edge

In this Letter, we report on demonstrating diamond avalanche diodes for obtaining a high-voltage pulse with a subnanosecond front edge. Under a 2.5 kV driving pulse, the diamond avalanche diodes show a 2.04 kV output and the front edge is 0.894 ns. After repetitive tests, the output voltage wave remains almost the same, indicating good stability. By applying a reverse DC 100 V bias, the front edge shortens to be 0.675 ns, while the rectifier characteristics degrade and the output voltage is limited. Therefore, the reverse bias should be optimized to obtain both the fast front edge and high output voltage. The results show that diamond avalanche diodes have a promising application for high-voltage pulse sources.