Method of making a field effect transistor having a short channel length which includes forming a protective covering layer on a silicon layer medium doped with an impurity that can be gettered, removing portions of the protective layer, forming a gettering layer on the exposed silicon surface where the portions of the protective covering has been removed, etching spaced areas of the getter layer and a portion of the protective covering adjacent one of the etched getter areas to provide source and drain diffusion windows, diffusing impurities of the opposite impurity type to the doping of the silicon layer through the windows to provide source and drain regions in the silicon layer separated by a channel region formed in its length in part by a medium doped region and in part by a low doped region, removing the protective covering from above the medium doped region, forming an insulating layer over the entire area, forming windows in the insulating layer above portions of the insulating layer above the source and drain regions, forming electrodes on the source and drain regions respectively and forming a gate electrode on the insulating layer above the highly doped channel region.