Manufacturer of power semiconductors (MOSFET, IBGT, Diodes and Thyristors). International Rectifier was founded in Los Angeles in August 1947 to manufacture Selenium rectifiers. IR was one of the first companies to commercialize Germanium rectifiers in 1954, and the first to introduce commercial zener diodes and solar cells in 1958. IR's 50-year legacy of power semiconductor technology "firsts" include: The first silicon controlled rectifier (SCR) in 1959 Development of the first epitaxial process in 1962 for producing the industry's most stable high voltage SCRs. One of the first suppliers of hi-reliability devices for space applications Introduction of the first power transistors and Darlington transistors to use glass passivation in 1974 The first hexagonal-celled power MOSFET, trademarked HEXFET® in 1979 Introduction of one of the world's first intelligent power ICs called the ChipSwitch® in 1983 First patents issued for power MOSFET and IGBT products in 1983 Introduced the world's first high voltage power IC in 1983 The world's first SmartFET in 1993 The world's first four mask MOSFET manufacturing process in 1996 The world's first MOSFET and Schottky in a single package or FETKY® product in 1996 The world's highest density and lowest RDS(on) self-aligned planar and trench MOSFETs in 1999 FlipFET™ wafer-level packaging for portable applications in 2000 iPOWIR™ integrated building blocks for DC-DC converters in 2001 DirectFET®, a packaging technology breakthrough for high performance DC-DC converters in 2002 iMOTION™ integrated design platform for variable speed motor drive in 2003