A germanium wafer is a semiconductor material that has outstanding crystallographic properties and unique electric properties. It is commonly used for terrestrial solar cells, sensors, infrared optics, and high brightness LEDs. If your project has something to do with germanium wafers, then you might want to know more about how germanium wafers perform as semiconductors. In this article, we will discuss everything you need to know about germanium wafers in semiconductors.
Germanium (Ge) is a hard, lustrous, grayish-white metalloid in the carbon group. Pure germanium is used as a semiconductor. Its appearance is similar to elemental silicon.
Germanium is commonly used for gamma-ray spectroscopy instead of silicon because of its high atomic number. A high atomic number increases the chance of gamma-ray interaction. Germanium is also more preferred than silicon for radiation detection because it can provide a better resolution in energy. It's also widely used for fire-fighting applications, wide-angle camera lenses, front optic in thermal imaging cameras, the core of optical fibers, hot-spot detection in the military, free night vision, and microscopy. For high-speed integrated circuits, especially in wireless communication devices, a germanium wafer is also the more preferred type of semiconductor material.
Germanium-based semiconductor detectors are utilized in applications where a first-class energy resolution is needed, especially for x-ray spectroscopy and gamma spectroscopy. It is also used for medical applications, nuclear plant safety, radioactive contamination detection, and more. A vast, sterile, and perfect germanium semiconductor is suitable as a counter for radioactivity. But making large, complete, and highly pure wafers are very expensive to make. It can also be used as a total absorption detector for gamma rays. The only drawback of using germanium-based semiconductor detectors is that at room temperature, it can become very noisy.
Germanium wafers have become a vital semiconductor material over the years, especially for high-speed integrated circuits that are mostly used in today’s technology. At Wafer World, we offer a high-quality germanium wafer at a reasonable price! Contact us for inquiries or purchase wafers online!
