Germanium and gallium are essential ingredients in silicon chips that drive technologies such as 5G, radio frequency, radar signals, and plastics. According to US company Wafer World, the strategic materials are also used in high-speed circuits in defense systems such as night-vision devices and satellite imaging sensors. These minerals have a unique quality that makes them ideal for semiconductors, allowing electrical current to flow through them when heated up or exposed to light. Silicon is the most common semiconductor, but gallium arsenide — which offers a transistor rate five times faster than silicon — is increasingly being used for high-speed … Continue reading Where Are Strategic Materials Germanium and Gallium Produced?