Abstract: To decrease the lifetime of minority carriers and thus increase switching speed, gold is diffused into a silicon body, the gold being applied by first electroless applying a nickel layer to a single crystal silicon to activate the silicon for reception of gold; and then, electroless applying the gold layer over the silicon layer. In accordance with a preferred process, the electrolessly applied nickel layer is sintered, a second nickel layer is applied thereover and the gold then applied over the second additional nickel layer. A further layer of nickel can be applied electrolessly, over which gold is applied to form a contact surface to which a contact wire can be soldered or fused.