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| A hard, brittle, silvery white semi-metal which has unusual electrical properties and is widely used in the semi-conductor industry.
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Crystal ingot.
Germanium is quite similar to silicon in appearance and properties. Both are used to make semiconductor devices, both can be melted and crystallized, and both are available in hyper-pure forms for semiconductor manufacture.
Source: eBay
Size: 1.25"
Purity: 99.999%
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Transistors.
Germanium shot to fame in 1947 when researchers at Bell Labs discovered that this semi-conducting element could be used to amplify electrical currents. Soon then device that was perfected from this discovery - the transistor - was being mass produced and the consumer electronics industry was born. Germanium continued to be used as the critical raw material for transistors for a couple of decades until it was largely replaced by devices based on silicon. Today it is still possible to buy a few specialist transistors such as these made from germanium.
Source: RS Components Ltd
Size: 1/2"
Purity: n/a
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Germanite.
Germanite is an opaque gray, brownish or reddish mineral with a metallic lustre. It occurs rarely in copper, lead, zinc ore veins and is generally massive or finely granular in form. There are only twenty-two known minerals containing germanium, none of which is mined for the element.
Source: Mackay mineral collection
Size: 2"
Purity: 9%
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