ANNEALING TO CONTROL GATE SENSITIVITY OF GATED SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES

The gate sensitivity of a gated semiconductor device such as a thyristor or transistor is decreased with precision without significantly changing certain other electrical characteristics of the device. Conducting portions of the device are first masked against irradiation and then gating portions of the device are selectively irradiated to a high level with a suitable radiation such as electron radiation to greatly increase the gate current to fire (Ig). The device is then indiscriminately or selectively annealed, preferably while monitoring the gate current, to reduce the gate current to fire (Ig) to a desired value.