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Germanium information, including Technical Data, Safety Data and its high purity properties, research, applications and other useful facts are discussed below. Scientific facts such as the atomic structure, ionization energy, abundance on Earth, conductivity and thermal properties are included.

Germanium is a very important semiconductor. Zone-refining techniques have led to production of crystalline germanium for semiconductor use with extremely high purities. When germanium is doped with arsenic, gallium, or other elements, it is used as a transistor element in thousands of electronic applications. The most common use of germanium is as a semiconductor. Germanium is also finding many other applications including use as an alloying agent, as a phosphor in fluorescent lamps, and as a catalyst. Germanium and germanium oxide are transparent to the infrared and are used in infrared spectroscopes and other optical equipment, including extremely sensitive infrared detectors The high refractive index and dispersion properties of its oxide's have made germanium useful as a component of wide-angle camera lenses and microscope objectives. The field of organo-germanium chemistry is becoming increasingly important. Germanium is available as metal and compounds with purities from 99% to 99.9999% (ACS grade to ultra-high purity); metals in the form of foil, sputtering target, and rod, and compounds as submicron and nanopowder.

Germanium facts, including appearance, CAS #, and molecular formula and safety data, research and properties are

 

  Hydrogen                                 Helium
  Lithium Beryllium                     Boron Carbon Nitrogen Oxygen Fluorine Neon
  Sodium Magnesium                     Aluminum Silicon Phosphorus Sulfur Chlorine Argon
  Potassium Calcium Scandium Titanium Vanadium Chromium Manganese Iron Cobalt Hydrogen Copper Zinc Gallium Germanium Arsenic Selenium Bromine Krypton
  Rubidium Strontium Yttrium Zirconium Niobium Molybdenum Technetium Ruthenium Rhodium Palladium Silver Cadmium Indium Tin Antimony Tellurium Iodine Xenon
  Cesium Barium Cerium Hafnium Tantalum Tungsten Rhenium Osmium Iridium Platinum Gold Mercury Thallium Lead Bismuth Polonium Astatine Radon
                                     
      Cerium Praseodymium Neodymium Promethium Samarium Europium Gadolinium Terbium Dysprosium Holmium Erbium Thulium Ytterbium Lutetium    
      Thorium Protactinium Uranium Neptunium Plutonium Americium Curium Berkelium Californium Einsteinium Fermium Mendelevium Nobelium Lawerencium    


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available for many specific states, forms and shapes on the product pages listed to the left. Elemental or metallic forms include pellets, rod, wire and granules for evaporation source material purposes. Nanoparticles and nanopowders provide ultra high surface area which nanotechnology research and recent experiments demonstrate function to create new and unique properties and benefits.

Oxides are available in forms including powders and dense pellets for such uses as optical coating and thin film applications. Oxides tend to be insoluble. Fluorides are another insoluble form for uses in which oxygen is undesirable such as metallurgy, chemical and physical vapor deposition and in some optical coatings. Germanium is available in soluble forms including chlorides, nitrates and acetates. These compounds are also manufactured as solutions at specified stoichiometries.

Germanium is a Block P, Group 14, Period 4 element. The electronic configuration is [Ar] 3d10 4s2 4p2. In its elemental form germanium's CAS number is 7440-56-4. The germanium atom has a radius of 122.5.pm and it's Van der Waals radius is 200.pm.

All elemental metals, compounds and solutions may be synthesized in ultra high purity (e.g. 99.999%) for laboratory standards, advanced electronic, metallurgy and optical materials and other high technology advantages. Information is provided for stable (non-radioactive) isotopes. Organo-Metallic Germanium compounds are soluble in organic or non-aqueous solvents. See Analytical Services for information on available certified chemical and physical analysis techniques including MS-ICP, X-Ray Diffraction, PSD and Surface Area (BET) analysis.

Germanium was first discovered by Clemens Winkler in 1886.

French Germanium German Germanium Italian Germanio Portuguese Germânio Spanish Germanio Swedish Germanium

Abundance. The following table shows the abundance of germanium and each of its naturally occurring isotopes on Earth along with the atomic mass for each isotope.

Isotope
Atomic Mass
% Abundance on Earth
Ge-70
69.924250
21.23
Ge-72
71.922076
27.66
Ge-73
72.923459
7.73
Ge-74
73.921178
35.94
Ge-76
75.921403
7.44

Safety Data. The safety data for germanium metal, nanoparticles and its compounds can vary widely depending on the form. For potential hazard information, toxicity, and road, sea and air transportation limitations, such as DOT Hazard Class, DOT Number, EU Number, NFPA Health rating and RTECS Class, please see the specific material or compound referenced in the left margin.

Ionization Energy. The ionization energy for germanium (the least required energy to release a single electron from the atom in it's ground state in the gas phase) is stated in the following table:

1st Ionization Energy
762.18 kJ mol-1
2nd Ionization Energy
1537.47 kJ mol-1
3rd Ionization Energy
3302.15 kJ mol-1

Conductivity. As to germanium's electrical and thermal conductivity, the electrical conductivity measured as to electrical resistivity @ 20 ºC is 46000000 μΩcm and its electronegativities (or its ability to draw electrons relative to other elements) is 2.01. The thermal conductivity of germanium is 122.5 W m-1 K-1.

Thermal Properties. The melting point and boiling point for germanium are stated below. The following chart sets forth the heat of fusion, heat of vaporization and heat of atomization.

Heat of Fusion
34.7 kJ mol-1
Heat of Vaporization
327.6 kJ mol-1
Heat of Atomization
373.8 kJ mol-1

 
Formula Atomic Number Molecular Weight Electronegativity (Pauling) Density Melting Point
Boiling Point
Vanderwaals radius
Ionic radius Energy of first ionization
Ge 32 72.59 g.mol -1 1.8 5.3 g.cm-3 at 20 °C 937 °C 2830 °C 200.pm 0.093 nm (+2) ; 0.054 (+4) 762.18 kJ.mol-1

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Recent Research & Development for Germanium

  • Polyhedral Structures with Three-Fold, Four-Fold, and Five-Fold Symmetry in Metal-Centered Ten-Vertex Germanium Clusters. Chemistry. 2008 Apr 2; [Epub ahead of print]

  • Extending the dynamic range of nuclear pulse spectrometers. Rev Sci Instrum. 2008 Mar;79(3):036105.

  • Measurement of the high energy component of the x-ray spectra in the VENUS electron cyclotron resonance ion source. Rev Sci Instrum. 2008 Mar;79(3):033302.

  • Study of scattering effects in low-energy gamma-ray spectrometry. Appl Radiat Isot. 2008 Feb 9; [Epub ahead of print]

  • Analytical efficiency curve for coaxial germanium detectors. Appl Radiat Isot. 2008 Feb 20; [Epub ahead of print]

  • Determination of soil, sand and ore primordial radionuclide concentrations by full-spectrum analyses of high-purity germanium detector spectra. Appl Radiat Isot. 2008 Feb 12; [Epub ahead of print]

  • Synthesis and cytotoxicity of silicon and germanium containing pyridine oxime o-ethers. Bioinorg Chem Appl. 2003;:299-308.

  • PB-210 CONCENTRATIONS IN CIGARETTES TOBACCOS AND RADIATION DOSES TO THE SMOKERS. Radiat Prot Dosimetry. 2008 Mar 21; [Epub ahead of print]

  • Time-resolved ten-channel monochromatic imaging of inertial confinement fusion plasmas. Appl Opt. 2000 Nov 1;39(31):5865-71.

  • Optimal doping control of magnetic semiconductors via subsurfactant epitaxy. Phys Rev Lett. 2008 Feb 15;100(6):066101. Epub 2008 Feb 12.

  • Isotopic effect in extended x-ray-absorption fine structure of germanium. Phys Rev Lett. 2008 Feb 8;100(5):055901. Epub 2008 Feb 8.

  • Attenuation measurement of infrared optical fibers by use of a hollow-taper-based coupling method. Appl Opt. 2000 Jul 1;39(19):3192-6.

  • Fabrication of Hollow Waveguides for CO(2) Lasers. Appl Opt. 2000 Apr 1;39(10):1555-60.

  • Search for New Red Phosphors Using Genetic Algorithm-Assisted Combinatorial Chemistry. J Comb Chem. 2008 Mar 15; [Epub ahead of print]

  • Calibration drift in a laboratory high purity germanium detector spectrometry system. Health Phys. 2008 Feb;94(2 Suppl):S27-33.

  • Natural radioactivity and trace metals in crude oils: implication for health. Environ Geochem Health. 2008 Mar 5; [Epub ahead of print]

  • Geometries, Stabilities, and Vibrational Properties of Bimetallic Mo(2)-Doped Ge(n)() (n = 9-15) Clusters: A Density Functional Investigation. J Phys Chem A. 2008 Apr 10;112(14):3224-30. Epub 2008 Mar 5.

  • Experimental study of hot electrons in LECR2M plasma. Rev Sci Instrum. 2008 Feb;79(2 Pt 2):02B504.

  • Measurement of the high energy component of the x-ray spectra in the VENUS electron cyclotron resonance ion source. Rev Sci Instrum. 2008 Feb;79(2 Pt 2):02A325.

  • Surface characterization of platinum electrodes. Phys Chem Chem Phys. 2008 Mar 14;10(10):1359-73. Epub 2007 Oct 25.

 

 

 

 

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