![]() Germanium from coal has several drawbacks. Germanium from coal has an uncertain future. The UK considers gallium to be critical to its manufacturing interests, though sees germanium as less important. Its use is expected to grow significantly.īoth gallium and germanium are on the European Union and US lists of critical elements. Meanwhile, gallium nitride is used in semiconductors in components for things like electric vehicles, sensors, high-end radio communications, LEDs and Blu-Ray players. These are used in things like blue and violet LEDs and microwave devices. It is already used in small quantities in some semiconductors to improve things like electron flow and thermal conductivity.Īs for gallium, 95% of it is used in a material called gallium arsenide, which is used in semiconductors with higher performance and lower power-consumption applications than silicon. With the physical limits of silicon being approached in some technologies, increased use of germanium is mooted as a way of overcoming these limits. Germanium is particularly useful in space technologies such as solar cells because it is more resistant to cosmic radiation than silicon. ![]() ![]() These get incorporated into countless devices such as smartphones, laptops, solar panels and medical equipment, as well as defense applications.īoth elements are also crucial to technological advancement over the next few years. But germanium and gallium have specific properties that are hard to replicate and lend themselves to certain niche applications. Silicon is the most widely used material in semiconductors, and is very abundant. So how important are the new Chinese restrictions and what are the implications likely to be? Other nations such as Japan and the Netherlands have also imposed restrictions. Above all, the US CHIPS and Science Act of 2022 curtailed exports of high-end microchips and technology to China, potentially affecting Beijing's capacity for high-performance computing in areas such as defense. ![]() The move is reportedly in response to western restrictions of equipment vital for making semiconductor devices (and was forewarned in an previous article in The Conversation). ![]()
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