Germanium:
In a major defence-tech breakthrough, Hyderabad based company has developed India’s first germanium-free thermal imaging payload for drones.
- It has the chemical symbol Ge and the atomic number 32.
- It is a silvery-gray metalloid, intermediate in properties between the metals and the nonmetals.
- It has a diamond like crystalline structure, and it is similar in chemical and physical properties to silicon.
- It is stable in air and water and is unaffected by alkalis and acids, except nitric acid.
- It is widely distributed in nature but is too reactive to occur free.
- Germanium ores are rare. They are found in small quantities as the minerals germanite and argyrodite.
- It is extracted as a by-product of zinc production and from coal fly ash.
- It is estimated that 75% of world wide production of germanium is sourced from zinc ores, mainly the zinc sulfide mineral sphalerite, and 25% from coal.
- Its main use is to produce solid-state electronics, semiconductors and fiber optic systems, components for devices such as rectifiers and photocells.
- The major worldwide producer of germanium is China, responsible for around 60% of total production.
- The remaining production of germanium comes from Canada, Finland, Russia, and the United States.
