Recently, in a major defence-tech breakthrough, Hyderabad based company has developed India’s first germanium-free thermal imaging payload for drones.
About Germanium:
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.
Properties of Germanium:
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.
Applications: Its main use is to produce solid-state electronics, semiconductors and fiber optic systems, components for devices such as rectifiers and photocells.
Major Producers:
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.
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