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Germanium and Silicon Liquidus Curves

01 January 1960

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Germanium and silicon have become very important elements in the last ten years. Great strides have been made in the exploitation of the electrical properties of these semiconductor elements, and many useful solid state electronic devices that employ these two elements are manufactured in increasing numbers every year. The electrical properties of pure germanium and silicon are of academic interest only, however. It is the modification of these properties by small amounts of added impurities that has made these elements technologically important. A knowledge of the chemical reactivity of electrically active impurities with germanium or silicon is necessary in order to be able to control the impurity concentrations. Much of the chemistry of such reactions can be described in a simple way by the use of phase diagrams. These diagrams give the chemical compositions of phases at equilibrium at various temperatures. Of particular interest are the liquidus and solidus curves of germanium and silicon. 169