Some Zinc-Copper-Lead ore bodies contain enough Germanium that it can be extracted from a final ore concentrate.
The highest concentrate ever found was in the Hartley Coal Ash with up to 1.6% of Germanium.
Purified Germanium is a semi-conductor, with an appearance most similar to elemental Silicon.
Found this element in Silver and Sulfur ore.
Today, production for in semiconductor electronics in a small fraction (2%) of that of ultra-high purity Silicon.
Demand for Germanium for use in fiber optics communication networks, infrared night vision systems, and polymerization catalysts.
Germanium is limited by the availability of exploitable resources, while the supply of Silicon is only limited by production capacity since Silicon comes from ordinary sand or quartz.
Expands as it solidifies (i.e. freezes) from its molten state.
Germania (GeO2) are its high index of refraction and its low optical dispersion, used in Camera lenses, microscopy, and core part of optical fibers.
