Germanium, condensation polymers

The most abundant species in the equilibrium vapor over condensed metals are generally atoms as shown by Knudsen effusion mass spectrometry. The relative abundance of the homonuclear diatomic molecules was determined to be between 10 and 10 percent if they are detectable. Exceptions are bismuth and antimony. The dimer partial pressure over liquid bismuth at temperatures below 1000 K exceeds that of the monomer [83, 164, 165]. The tetramer is the most abundant species over liquid antimony [85]. Other polyatomic homonuclear species have so far been observed under equilibrium conditions for some of the alkali metals, as well as the group Ib, IVb, and Vb metals. Particularly large polymers up to 667 and Sn7 were detected for germanium [84,166,167] and tin [168],... 

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