Word: germanium
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Anderson's memory crystals are still only partly developed, but he has high hopes for them. They occupy little space and demand little current. They are thus worthy teammates for the tiny germanium transistors (TIME, Feb. 11) which will be the brain cells of the supercomputers of the future...
...Germanium Hunt. The best ore of germanium, the scarce metal that goes into the magic electronic transistors (TIME, Feb. 11), may prove to be ordinary coal. Last week the Pennsylvania Coal and Coke Corp. was asking coal operators all over the Appalachian region to send in samples of coal for germanium assay...
Geologists say that coal has the property of extracting germanium from water or gases that come in contact with it. For this reason, the top and bottom six inches of the seam generally contain the most germanium. Since the pure metal sells for about $350 a pound, a strike of rich germanium-coal would prove valuable...
Points & Junctions. Some transistors (the "point contact" type) use only one kind of germanium with fine metal points pressing upon it. "Junction transistors" use both the germanium that has free electrons and germanium that has "holes." Both transistors act like electron tubes; they can turn alternating into direct current, amplify faint currents, generate musical tones, serve as relays; they even perform brilliantly as photoelectric cells, turning light into electricity...
...these chores are performed by the transistor with startling economy of materials and power. There is no glass envelope, as in an electron tube, and no complicated insides. The current price of germanium is more than $100 a lb., but so little is used that its cost is negligible...