Germanium Transistor: Loaded with Mesmerizing features for 21st century.

As its name suggests, A transistor made out of germanium as a semiconductor is called a germanium transistor. Features like low voltage operation and faster response time made it a revolutionary semiconductor device during the development of early-age computers. Due to better stability at different temperatures, it is still preferably being used in delicate circuits widely in this silicon era of transistors. From history to its present development, application, and future scope, we will try to cover all your queries about the germanium transistor.

History:

Just like other devices, the germanium transistor has its history of development. Way before the transistor, Germanium started being used in diodes during World War second. Due to its low noise property germanium was widely used in radar and telecommunication systems by Britain and other countries during war.

Germanium transistor was 1st invented and introduced at Bell Labs in the year 1947.  right after its introduction, it became popular due to better reliability over traditional vacuum tube components. It became the 1st mass-produced transistor in the world because of high demand in the market. Because of its comparatively smaller size and low power consumption, it opened doors for various advancements in electronic devices. Early electronic devices and computers used germanium transistors in large quantities.  But after the introduction of cheaper and smaller size silicon transistors in 1954 it gradually got replaced.

Unlike its counterpart silicon transistor, it is being used in circuits where stability is a key factor. With Market share of 90%, Germanium transistor once dominated the semiconductor market during mid 19th century. It is still relevant in the 21st century with approx. 1% market share of semiconductor devices.

Working Principles:

Just like a silicon transistor, when an n-type semiconductor is sandwiched between two p-type semiconductors it becomes a PNP transistor, similarly, one p-type semiconductor surrounded with two n-type semiconductors gives an n-p-n type transistor. The three pins of a transistor are known as the emitter, base, and collector.

As the name suggests we generally use a collector for the collection of current. Thus the collector becomes the output where the emitter and base become the input port. Due to the special characteristics of germanium both depletion layers change their thickness according to input voltage and current, this phenomenon opens a gate for tons of opportunities in electronics. Germanium has a lower energy gap of 0.7 ev and knee voltage of 0.3v only, which makes it a better transistor for low temperature and low current devices.

Advantages and Limitations of germanium transistor:

In the early and mid-nineteenth century, germanium played an important role in the Innovation of various radio equipment. Better performance in low-temperature conditions made it an obvious choice in war-based telecom and radio equipment. Following are some advantages of germanium transistor over other transistor:

High Electron Mobility :

Germanium has higher electron mobility as compared to silicon. A switching device operating at a higher frequency uses a germanium transistor for better switching speed than its counterpart.

Lower activation energy:

Due to lower activation energy, the germanium transistor has a lower turn-on voltage. Devices operating at low voltage show good results when they use germanium as a transistor.

Limitation:

Apart from various advantages, there are some limitations like high cost, bulky in size, higher noise at high temperature, etc. On the other hand, Silicon transistors are cheaper, tiny in size, and have lower noise production as a replacement for the germanium transistor in the last few decades.

Applications:

Analog signal processing:

Due to lower saturation voltage, germanium transistors are used in analog signal processing devices. It minimize signal loss in such signal processing devices.

Specialized Electronic Devices:

Due to special electronics characteristics, germanium transistors are used in devices specially designed for research-related projects. Apart from this, special circuit used in devices to perform any particular task uses a these transistor.

High-frequency devices:

Due to better electron mobility, Germanium transistors are used in devices operating at higher frequencies. Radar and other communication systems, operating at high-frequency signals used germanium transistors during the early phase of transistor development.

Low noise amplifier:

In audio amplifiers where low noise is critical while amplification,  germanium transistors play a very effective role. Due to better performance with lower noise, the radio amplifier uses germanium as a transistor in most cases.

Evolution of silicon transistors over germanium:

Although the germanium transistor played a key role in the development of the transistor era, silicon took over in a later stage. The following factors were responsible for this development:

• High cost: Germanium element is rare to find whereas silicon is abundant on earth. It makes the germanium transistor a bit costly compared to the silicon transistors. Silicon paved a cheaper option for the electronics industry when compared to germanium.
• Bulkier in size: Germanium transistors are usually bigger and bulkier in size whereas silicon-made transistors are usually lightweight which helped developers to reduce the size of electronics devices.
• Higher Reverse saturation current: Germanium has reversed saturation current in micro amperes whereas silicon has reverse saturation current in nano amperes, which indicates silicon has less leakage current. Thus when it comes to circuits where leakage current is a critical factor we prefer silicon transistors.
• Less efficiency at higher temperatures:
  Silicon shows better efficiency than germanium when operating at higher temperatures. Due to better thermal efficiency, silicon transistors are preferably used in such devices.

Apart from the above, lower noise, and the ability to form dioxide easily are some more factors that are responsible for replacing germanium transistors with silicon transistors in modern electronics devices.

Conclusion:

In the electronics industry, Germanium played a key role in the development of transistors. Though it was commonly used in electronic devices at an early stage, It was replaced by silicon transistors over time. Due to some special characteristics like better electron mobility and stable operation, Germanium transistors are still relevant and being used in modern electronic devices.

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