A 20 kV, 1 ns risetime pulsed electron beam source was developed using an extremely small gap (0.1 mm) diode driven by a sub-nanosecond risetime, 10 kV rectangular pulse generator. A beam current of 5 A was detected by using a fast response Faraday cup at a distance of 2 cm away from a grid anode. The shot to shot variation of the electron beam pulse was less than 10%.