Kardo-Sysoev Alexei Fedorovich

Professional biography:

After completing secondary school in 1958, Kardo-Sysoev became a student of the Electrophysical Faculty of the Leningrad Electrotechnical Institute named after Lenin.

Following the completion of his master’s degree in the field of semiconductor physics in 1964, he joined the Leningrad Television Institute, specializing in the development of semiconductor devices which could convert images into electrical and electromagnetic signals.  In 1967, Dr. Kardo-Sysoev was invited to join the Ioffe Physical Technical Institute (PTI) Laboratory of V.M. Tuchkevich as a Junior Scientist. Soon after joining PTI he began his investigations of the physics of fast semiconductor switches, or “thyristors.”  He has discovered a new, fast mode of thyristor operations, known as “avalanche injection mode” [1].

By the use of this mode of operation, the switching speed of the device was increased dozens of times.  This work set a world record speed for this type of device. On the basis of this work, he was awarded his Ph.D. degree in 1973. In seventies a big electronic plant named “Svetlana” started mass production of power fast modulator thyristors, based on the achievements of PTI.

In 1974, he became a Senior Scientist at PTI, and continued his specialization in the field of fast power semiconductor switches.  He investigated high temperature current instabilities leading to current filamentation. The experiments [2] showed that a current filament, starting from a point quickly in tens of nanoseconds transforms to narrow long filament passing through stages of solid, liquid and vapor phases. The energy density in filaments could be very high up to 10^5 Joules per cm^3.This phenomenon plays important role in semiconductor bridges (SCB) which led to the creation of the first industrial devices in the Soviet Union. He restarted investigations in this area many years later at far higher levels of energy [9].

In the late 1970s, in [3] it was suggested a new physical phenomenon called, initially, “superfast reversible breakdown” in high voltage p-n junctions. This discovery has led to new world records being set in fast switching: an increase of three orders of magnitude. The practical application of this discovery was limited by the availability of fast-rising voltage to trigger the phenomenon.  In the early 1980s in [4] it was  suggested another new phenomenon, “super fast restoration” of high voltage p-n junctions.  This second discovery made the practical application of superfast reversible breakdown a reality. In [5] it was suggested the new method, based on microwave excitation of impact ionization, to evaluate impact ionization in low electric field down to 30 kV/cm. The experimental results showed that activation energy at low fields is nearly two times less than at higher fields, which could be explained by two step ionization via deep levels. Such processes could play very important role in “superfast reversible breakdown”, mentioned above.

The physics of these two phenomena has been applied to other semiconductor structures with two and three p-n junctions, making possible the development of families of superfast semiconductor devices. On the basis of this work, Dr. Kardo-Sysoev received his degree of D.Sc. (Professor) , was awarded the State Prize in Physics (the high USSR honor in science), and was appointed to head the physics laboratory devoted to fast processes in semiconductors (1987). Under his direction, the laboratory performed ground-breaking works in the areas of pulser design and short pulse ultra-wide band (UWB) electromagnetics [6]. In [7] it was demonstrated the first UWB pulsed synchronized active antenna array which was able to scan antenna pattern. He began the development, in conjunction with other Soviet and later Russian enterprises, of ultra-wide band communication, radar, ground penetrating radar, electronic jamming and disruption systems.

Later he started to work on switching devices based on SiC semiconductor. In [8] pulse amplitude up to 30 kV was achieved.

He has authorized or co-authorized more than 150 scientific and technical papers and inventions.

Kardo-Sysoev has been consulting in UWB area a lot of enterprises in Russia and other countries. Since 2009 he is a principal researcher and consultant in the laboratory.

References:

1. Avalanche injection in High-Speed thyristors, A.F.Kardo-Sysoev, V.P.Reshetin, I.G.Tchashnikov, V.B. Shuman. IEEE transaction on Electron Devices. Vol. ed-23, no. 11, November 1976, pp.1208-1211.
2. Высокотемпературные токовые неустойчивости в кремнии, ФТП, т. 14, в. 6. Jan 1980; 1167-1174. А Ф Кардо–Сысоев; В А Козлов High temperature instabilities in silicon.
3. Формирование субнаносекундных перепадов тока при задержке пробоя кремниевых p-n переходов. И. В. Грехов, А.Ф.Кардо-Сысоев, Письма в ЖТФ, том 5, вып. 15. Август 1979.
4. Формирование высоковольтных наносекундных перепадов напряжения на полупроводниковых диодах. И. В. Грехов, В.М. Ефанов, А.Ф.Кардо-Сысоев, С.В.Шендерей. Письма в ЖТФ,1983.7. с.435-439.
5. И. В. Грехов,  С.В. Зазулин.  А.Ф. Кардо-Сысоев. Ударная ионизация в кремнии в слабых полях. Физика и техника полупроводников. Том.25, вып.5, 1991
6. Subnanosecond Pulses” in a book ” A.F.Kardo-Sysoev.” New Power Semiconductor Devices for Generation of Nano- and Ultra-wideband Radar Technology” (Editor James D. Taylor), : CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL, USA. ISBN: 0-8493-4267-8 (alk.), pp. 206-290, September 2000.
7. “Ultra Wide Band Pulsed Syncronized Antenna Array”, A.F.Kardo-Sysoev, A.N.Flerov, A.D.Frantsuzov, S.V.Zazulin,. Euroem 2000, 30 May – 2 June 2000, Edinburgh.
8. 30 kV pulse diode stack based on 4H-SiC. Ilyin,VA; Afanasyev,AV; Demin,YS; Ivanov,BV; Kardo-Sysoev,AF; Luchinin,VV; Reshanov,SA; Schoner,A; Sergushichev,KA; Smirnov,AA 2018 Mater. Sci. Forum, v.924 MSF
9. Возбуждение взрывчатых превращений в энергонасыщенных соединениях на основе нанопористого кремния с помощью полупроводниковых быстродействующих ключей и энерговыделяющих элементов,  Савенков,ГГ; Кардо-Сысоев,АФ; Зегря,АГ; Оськин,ИА; Брагин,ВА; Зегря,ГГ. 2017. Письма ЖТФ, т.43, 19,