What is a germanium crystal used for?

What is a germanium crystal used for?

Umicore created the world’s purest germanium crystal. With a purity of 99.99999999999% it is used to detect and analyse gamma rays in particle accelerators, nuclear power plants and space applications, such as the Gamma Ray Spectrometer on the Mars Odyssey spacecraft.

What are the allotropes of germanium?

Germanium is brittle and silvery-white under standard conditions. Germanium under this condition is known as α-germanium, which has a diamond cubic crystal structure. When germanium is above 120 kilobars, germanium has a different allotrope known as β-germanium.

What are the properties of germanium?

Pure germanium is a hard, lustrous, gray-white, brittle metalloid. It has a diamondlike crystalline structure and it is similar in chemical and physical properties to silicon. Germanium is stable in air and water, and is unaffected by alkalis and acids, except nitric acid.

Where do you find germanium?

Germanium is primarily mined with zinc ore as well as with argyrodite, germanite, and coal according to the Los Alamos National Laboratory. According to Chemistry Explained, germanium is mined in Alaska, Tennessee, China, the United Kingdom, Ukraine, Russia and Belgium.

How is germanium used in everyday life?

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.

What is the cost of germanium today?

The cost of germanium is about $3/g.

What is the price of germanium?

* Estimated. Average European price for minimum 99.99 percent purity. This statistic was assembled using several editions of the report….Price of germanium in the United States from 2014 to 2021, by type (in U.S. dollars per kilogram)