referring now to the single figure in detail , there is shown a cross - section of a thyristor in order to explain the method of the invention in an exemplary manner . in order to enlarge the scale , the figure illustrates only half of the cross section of the thyristor . the vertical dash - dotted line depicted on the left - hand side of the figure is a line at which the partial view has to be mirrored for completing the view . the thyristor has a semiconductor body 1 having , in succession , an n - doped cathode - side emitter 5 , a p - doped cathode - side base 6 , an n - doped anode - side base 7 and a p - doped anode - side emitter 8 . the semiconductor body 1 contains a region 2 in which a current flow is triggered if a forward - biased electrical voltage between the anode - side and cathode - side emitters reaches the value of the breakover voltage of this region . this voltage is applied to the depicted contacts on the top side and underside of the semiconductor body . a series of so - called ag ( amplifying gate ) structures is depicted , the structures triggering in the order of the depicted numbering when the thyristor triggers . the thyristor is preferably rotationally symmetrical , so that the cross section shown in the figure from left to right represents the thyristor structure from the center towards the outside . in this example , the central region 2 of the thyristor is configured for triggering through the use of light radiated in . in order to ensure that , in the case of overvoltages in the blocking direction , the thyristor first triggers in the center and the actual triggering of the current flow in the forward direction takes place successively via the ag structures , the region 2 provided for triggering may contain a bod structure , as is described e . g . in published , non - prosecuted german patent application no . de 196 50 762 a1 cited above . the maximum voltage , which can be reached before the triggering of the thyristor is in this case determined by the avalanche breakdown voltage of the protective diode in the center . the avalanche breakdown voltage critically depends on the curvature properties of the boundary of the central portion of the p - doped region forming the cathode - side base . what is of importance for subsequent modification of the breakover voltage is , in particular , the fact that a local lowering of the n - type doping in the cathode - side half of the anode - side base , e . g . in the surroundings of the blocking pn junction , brings about a corresponding lowering of the electric field strength there . that leads , on the one hand , to an increase in the avalanche breakdown voltage of the protective diode and , on the other hand , to the space charge zone which forms at the blocking pn junction extending more deeply into the anode - side base given the same anode - cathode voltage . that then brings about an increase in the current gain factor of the pnp transistor formed from the cathode - side base , the anode - side base and the anode - side emitter , and hence in the blocking current . if , as a result of the subsequent irradiation , the effective doping is reduced only in a small cathode - side zone 3 of the anode - side base 7 and not excessively greatly , then that has only a minor effect on the current gain factor of the pnp transistor given a sufficiently long length of the anode - side base ( sufficiently large thickness of the n - doped semiconductor layer forming the anode - side base ). thus , on account of the increase in the avalanche breakdown voltage of the protective diode , the lowering of the maximum field strength at the blocking pn junction leads to a corresponding increase in the breakover voltage of the thyristor . by contrast , greatly lowering the effective n - type doping in the anode - side base within a relatively large region causes the breakover voltage to be lowered , since the influence on the current gain factor then predominates . in this case , the space charge zone approaches the anode - side emitter 8 long before the avalanche breakdown voltage of the blocking pn junction is reached in the region 2 provided for triggering . the local lowering of the effective doping concentration in the anode - side base which is necessary for the desired application can be achieved by preferably cathode - side irradiation of the thyristor in the central region 2 provided for triggering , for example using helium ions . the irradiation energy is set at a sufficient level in accordance with the required penetration depth . this irradiation produces acceptor - like states , which reduce the effective n - type doping . an analogous reduction of a p - type doping can be achieved , for example , through the use of irradiation with protons , as is described using a different kind of application in u . s . pat . no . 4 , 987 , 087 cited above . the process of irradiation with particles additionally leads to the production of defects in the semiconductor material , preferably silicon , which bring about a lowering of the generation lifetime and thus a local rise in the leakage current on account of the increased density of free charge carriers . this results in a further reduction of the breakover voltage . it is advantageous here that the influence on the total leakage current is small if only small volumes are irradiated in the semiconductor material . breakover voltage increases and also decreases can be realized in a simple and comparatively accurate manner by the method according to the invention . the extent to which the breakover voltage is lowered or raised can be set by way of the dose and the energy of the irradiation . repeated irradiation with different energies allows the effective doping of the anode - side base to be modified in a targeted manner in regions having dimensions of hundreds of micrometers . the defects produced are preferably annealed by heat treatment at temperatures around 250 ° c ., in order to prevent electrical instabilities . such a process step can quite safely be performed with an otherwise completed thyristor .