Germanium

Transistors are made of solid materials such as silicon or germanium whose electrical properties lie somewhere between conductors and insulators: they are semiconductors.

Germanium is named after Germany, where it was discovered.

Germanium was found in a mineral called argyrodite.

This equipment, which includes transformers, germanium rectifiers and smoothing apparatus, has been designed to allow the existing electric multiple-unit traction motors to operate on rectified alternating current.

The isolated disordered regions and the amorphous layer have widely different anneal behavior. In the case of germanium and silicon, the isolated disordered regions anneal at moderate temperatures of approximately 200° and 300° C, respectively. The amorphous layers also anneal in a characteristic fashion, but at appreciably higher temperatures, i.e., at approximately 600° C in silicon and 400° C in germanium.