germanium

germanium (Ge), a chemical element between silicon and tin in Group 14 (IVa) of the periodic table, a silvery-gray metalloid, intermediate in properties between the metals and the nonmetals. Although germanium was not discovered until 1886 by Clemens Winkler, a German chemist, its existence, properties, and position in the periodic system had been predicted in 1871 by the Russian chemist Dmitry Ivanovich Mendeleyev, who called the hypothetical element ekasilicon. (The name germanium derives from the Latin word Germania [Germany] and was given to the element by Winkler.) Germanium did not become economically significant until after 1945, when its properties as a semiconductor were recognized as being of value in electronics. Many other substances now also are used as semiconductors, but germanium remains of primary importance in the manufacture of transistors and of components for devices such as rectifiers and photocells.

On a weight basis, germanium is a scarce but not an extremely rare (about 1.5 parts per million) element in the crust of the Earth, equaling in abundance beryllium, molybdenum, and cesium and exceeding the elements arsenic, cadmium, antimony, and mercury. In the cosmos the atomic abundance of germanium is 50.5 (based upon Si = 1 × 10⁶), a value roughly equal to those for krypton and zirconium and only slightly less than that for selenium. The cosmic abundance is much less than those of a number of the heavier elements; e.g., bromine, strontium, tin, barium, mercury, and lead. All of the elements of lower nuclear charge than germanium, except beryllium, boron, scandium, and gallium, are cosmically more abundant than germanium. Cosmically, germanium is believed to be one of the many elements formed by neutron absorption after the initial processes of hydrogen and helium burning and alpha-particle absorption.

Germanium is widely distributed in nature but is too reactive to occur free. Primary minerals include argyrodite (from which it was first isolated), germanite, renierite, and canfieldite, all of them rare; only germanite and renierite have been used as commercial sources for the element. Trace quantities of germanium are found in certain zinc blendes, in sulfidic ores of copper and arsenic, and in coals, the latter possibly a consequence of the concentration of the element by plants of the Carboniferous Period in geologic history. Certain present-day plants are known to concentrate germanium. Both zinc-process concentrates and ash and flue dusts from coal-burning installations provide commercial sources of germanium.

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In refining germanium, the low-grade residues obtained from its ores are treated with strong hydrochloric acid, and the resulting germanium tetrachloride is distilled, purified by repeated redistillation, and hydrolyzed to form germanium dioxide, which is then reduced by hydrogen to a powdery form of the metal that is melted at a temperature of about 1,100° C (2,000° F [in an inert atmosphere]) and cast into ingots or billets.

The element is brittle rather than ductile; the atoms in its crystals are arranged as are the carbon atoms in diamond. The electrical and semiconducting characteristics of germanium are comparable to those of silicon. It is not attacked by air at room temperature but is oxidized at 600°–700° C (1,100°–1,300° F) and reacts quickly with the halogens to form tetrahalides. Among the acids, only concentrated nitric or sulfuric acid or aqua regia (a mixture of nitric and hydrochloric acids) attack germanium appreciably. Although aqueous caustic solutions produce little effect on it, germanium dissolves rapidly in molten sodium hydroxide or potassium hydroxide, thereby forming the respective germanates.

Germanium forms stable oxidation states of +2 and +4, the compounds of the latter being more stable and numerous. The two most important compounds of germanium are the dioxide (GeO₂) and the tetrachloride (GeCl₄). Germanates, formed by heating the dioxide with basic oxides, include zinc germanate (Zn₂GeO₄), used as a phosphor (a substance that emits light when energized by radiation). The tetrachloride, already mentioned as an intermediate in obtaining germanium from its natural sources, is a volatile, colorless liquid that freezes at about -50° C (-58° F) and boils at 84° C (183.2° F).

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For use in electronic devices, germanium ingots or billets require further purification, which usually is effected by the technique of zone refining. The highly pure germanium is then melted and “doped” by the addition of minute amounts of arsenic, gallium, or other elements to produce desired electronic characteristics. Finally, single crystals are generated from the melt at carefully controlled temperatures, using a seed crystal as a nucleus. Single crystals of germanium are grown in an atmosphere of nitrogen or helium from the molten material. These are then transformed into semiconductors by being doped (infused) with electron donor or acceptor atoms, either by incorporating the impurities in the melt during growth of the crystal or by diffusing the impurities into the crystal after it has been formed.

Germanium compounds in which germanium is in the +2 oxidation state are well characterized as solids, and in general they are readily oxidized. Elemental germanium can be electrodeposited from many solutions and melts of its compounds. It is of interest that as little as one milligram of dissolved germanium per litre seriously interferes with the electrodeposition of zinc.

In addition to its applications in electronic devices, germanium is used as a component of alloys and in phosphors for fluorescent lamps. Because germanium is transparent to infrared radiation, it is employed in equipment used for detecting and measuring such radiation, such as windows and lenses. The high index of refraction of germanium dioxide renders it valuable as a component of glasses used in optical devices, such as wide-angle lenses for cameras and microscope objectives. The toxicology of germanium and its compounds is poorly defined.

The five stable isotopes of germanium occur in the following relative amounts: germanium-70, 20.5 percent; germanium-72, 27.4 percent; germanium-73, 7.8 percent; germanium-74, 36.5 percent; and germanium-76, 7.8 percent. Nine radioactive isotopes have been reported.