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Elemental germanium is used as a semiconductor in transistors and various other electronic devices. Historically, the first decade of semiconductor electronics was based entirely on germanium. Presently, the major end uses are fibre-optic systems, infrared optics, solar cell applications, and light-emitting diodes (LEDs).
SiGe (/ ˈ s ɪ ɡ iː / or / ˈ s aɪ dʒ iː /), or silicon–germanium, is an alloy with any molar ratio of silicon and germanium, i.e. with a molecular formula of the form Si 1−x Ge x. It is commonly used as a semiconductor material in integrated circuits (ICs) for heterojunction bipolar transistors or as a strain-inducing layer for CMOS ...
A compound semiconductor is a semiconductor compound composed of chemical elements of at least two different species. These semiconductors form for example in periodic table groups 13–15 (old groups III–V), for example of elements from the Boron group (old group III, boron, aluminium, gallium, indium) and from group 15 (old group V, nitrogen, phosphorus, arsenic, antimony, bismuth).
Germanium detectors are mostly used for gamma spectroscopy in nuclear physics, as well as x-ray spectroscopy. While silicon detectors cannot be thicker than a few millimeters, germanium can have a sensitive layer ( depletion region ) thickness of centimeters, and therefore can be used as a total absorption detector for gamma rays up to a few MeV.
Just one month after China announced it would curb exports of germanium and gallium, both essential for making semiconductors, its overseas shipments of the materials fell to zero.
Some examples of semiconductors are silicon, germanium, gallium arsenide, and elements near the so-called "metalloid staircase" on the periodic table. After silicon, gallium arsenide is the second-most common semiconductor and is used in laser diodes, solar cells, microwave-frequency integrated circuits, and others.
The metalloids; germanium (first used in 1947) and silicon (first used in 1954)—in amorphous, polycrystalline and monocrystalline form. The compounds gallium arsenide (1966) and silicon carbide (1997). The alloy silicon–germanium (1989) The allotrope of carbon graphene (research ongoing since 2004), etc. (see Semiconductor material).
Silicon used in semiconductor device manufacturing is currently fabricated into boules that are large enough in diameter to allow the production of 300 mm (12 in.) wafers. Germanium (Ge) was a widely used early semiconductor material but