Germanium electrical characteristics

Microchips come in a range of sizes and can be as small as 0.08 sq in (2 sq mm). They are made of a slice of semiconducting material such as silicon or germanium and have specific electrical characteristics. The first microchips were made in the early 1960s. Some microchips are microprocessors others can be memory or interface microchips. The microprocessor chip communicates with memory and interface chips within the computer through buses, or series of wires, that relay information. 

As discussed above, the measurement of characteristic y rays is very similar to the methods used in EDXRF. Early studies used a scintillation counter, typically a crystal of sodium iodide containing a small amount of thallium (Tite 1972). y ray absorption by these counters produces visible light, which is converted into an electrical pulse using a photosensitive detector. More recently semiconductor detectors have been used, either a lithium drifted germanium crystal, or, more typically, a pure ( intrinsic )... 

Some of the metalloids are considered semiconductors. The term metalloids is used in this reference book because these elements do have characteristics of both metals and non-metals, and the term semiconductor refers only to particular elements somewhere between metals and nonmetals. Semiconductors also have properties of both metals and nonmetals. Therefore, they have the ability to act as conductors of electricity and thermal energy (heat), as well as the ability to act as insulators or nonconductors of electricity and heat, depending upon the kind and amount of impurities their crystals contain. Again, following the zigzag steps on the periodic table, the metalloids having properties of both metals and nonmetals are as follows boron, silicon, germanium, arsenic, antimony, tellurium, and polonium. 

Figure 6.6 summarizes different blocks, families, and areas of the periodic table. Most elements can be classified as metals. Metals are solid at room temperature, are good conductors of heat and electricity, and form positive ions. Moving across the table from left to right elements lose their metallic characteristics. The metalloids, also known as the semi-metals, have properties intermediate between metals and nonmetals. Because they display characteristics of both conductors and nonconductors, elements such as silicon and germanium find wide use in the semi-conductor industry. Non-metals are found on the far right of the periodic table. Nonmetals are poor conductors and are gases at room temperature. 

An interesting avenue for investigation is to examine the adsorption characteristics on single crystals concurrently with electrical measurements. Thus, any relationship which possibly exists between the slow states and the chemisorption might be positively revealed. Examination of the adsorption characteristics of reduced germanium crystals and the effect of the fast states would also be of interest. These studies have been initiated. It remains clear at this time, however, that the semiconductor properties of the germanium influence the surface properties of the thin oxide films supported thereon. The influence is clear in the case of propanol adsorption and the differences are even more dramatic in the case of water adsorption. 

The elements have been classified empirically based on similarities in their physical or chemical properties. Metals and nonmetals are distinguished by the presence (or absence) of a characteristic metallic luster, good (or poor) ability to conduct electricity and heat, and malleability (or brittleness). Certain elements (boron, silicon, germanium, arsenic, antimony, and tellurium) resemble metals in some respects and nonmetals in others, and are therefore called semimetals or metalloids. Their ability to conduct electricity, for example, is much worse than metals, but is not essentially zero like the nonmetals. 

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