The longevity of high gain GaAs photoconductive semiconductor switches (PCS
S's) has been extended to well over ten million pulses by reducing the dens
ity of carriers at the semiconductor to metal interface. This was achieved
by reducing the density in the vertical and lateral directions. The latter
was achieved by varying the spatial distribution of the trigger light there
by widening the current filaments that are characteristic of the high gain
switches. We reduced the carrier density in the vertical direction by using
ion implantation. These results were obtained for; currents of about 10 A,
current duration of 3.5 ns, and switched voltage of similar to 2 kV, At cu
rrents of similar to 70 A, the switches last for 0.6 million pulses. In ord
er to improve the performance at high currents, new processes such as deep
diffusion and epitaxial growth of contacts are being pursued. To guide this
effort we recorded open shutter, infra-red images, and time-resolved Schli
eren images of the current filaments, which form during high gain switching
. We measured, under varying conditions, a carrier (electrons or holes) den
sity that ranges from 3 x 10(17) cm(-3) to 6 x 10(18) cm(-3).