tripler is a popular type of voltage multiplier. The output voltage of a tripler is in practice below three times the peak input voltage due to their high impedance, caused in part by the fact that as each capacitor in the chain supplies power to the next, it partially discharges, losing voltage doing so. Triplers were commonly used in color television receivers to provide the high voltage for the cathode ray tube (CRT, picture tube). Triplers are still used in high voltage supplies such as copiers, laser printers, bug zappers and electroshock weapons. Breakdown voltage While the multiplier can be used to produce thousands of volts of output, the individual components do not need to be rated to withstand the entire voltage range. Each component only needs to be concerned with the relative voltage differences directly across its own terminals and of the components immediately adjacent to it. Typically a voltage multiplier will be physically arranged like a ladder, so that the progressively increasing voltage potential is not given the opportunity to arc across to the much lower potential sections of the circuit. Note that some safety margin is needed across the relative range of voltage differences in the multiplier, so that the ladder can survive the shorted failure of at least one diode or capacitor component. Otherwise a single-point shorting failure could successively over-voltage and destroy each next component in the multiplier, potentially destroying the entire multiplier chain. Other circuit topologies Stacking An even number of diode-capacitor cells is used in any column so that the cascade ends on a smoothing cell. If it were odd and ended on a clamping cell the ripple voltage would be very large. Larger capacitors in the connecting column also reduce ripple but at the expense of charging time and increased diode current. Dickson charge pump The Dickson charge pump, or Dickson multiplier, is a modification of the Greinacher/Cockcroft–Walton multiplier. Unlike that circuit, however, the Dickson multiplier takes a DC supply as its input so is a form of DC-to-DC converter. Also, unlike Greinacher/Cockcroft–Walton which is used on high-voltage applications, the Dickson multiplier is intended for low-voltage purposes. In addition to the DC input, the circuit requires a feed of two clock pulse trains with an amplitude swinging between the DC supply rails. These pulse trains are in antiphase. To describe the ideal operation of the circuit, number the diodes D1, D2 etc.