The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.

The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.

Date of Patent:
Oct. 01, 2019

Filed:

Apr. 25, 2016
Applicant:

Sandia Corporation, Albuquerque, NM (US);

Inventors:

Geoffrey L. Brennecka, Lakewood, CO (US);

Steven F. Glover, Albuquerque, NM (US);

Gary Pena, Albuquerque, NM (US);

Fred J. Zutavern, Albuquerque, NM (US);

Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
G11C 11/22 (2006.01);
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
G11C 11/22 (2013.01);
Abstract

A ferroelectric opening switch is enabled by controlled polarization switching via nucleation in a ferroelectric material, such as BaTiO, Pb(Zr,Ti)O, LiNbO, LiTaO, or variants thereof. For example, nucleation sites can be provided by mechanical seeding, grain boundaries, or optical illumination. The invention can be used as an opening switch in large scale pulsed-power systems. However, the switch can also be used in compact pulsed-power systems (e.g., as drivers for high power microwave systems), as passive fault limiters for high voltage dc (HVDC) systems, and/or in other high power applications.


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