Since civilian and military electronics have become indispensable, those who hold the raw materials dictate the law

Our life is dominated by electronics, even for the most trivial operations that we do through a mobile phone , such as sending and receiving documents, paying, showing securities such as tickets or receipts, booking holidays, goods or services.

Topics covered in the article:

- How microchips are built

- What are the main raw materials used

- What are Gallium and Germanium

- World Production of Gallium and Germanium

You can turn on or off the heating, air conditioning, watering the garden, cool or heat the car, check where you have it parked, see the weather etc..

But all this technology, the one we can see and the one we don't know in detail, being part of a product, it needs materials to be able to live and some of these are decidedly rare, expensive and not available to everyone.

We have become even more aware, since the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian war, that much, if not all, military technology does extensive use of semiconductors, both for active warfare and for control and interception.

Missiles and drones that hit targets, guided bombs, electronic jamming warfare, are only part of the use that armies make in the military field.

How microchips are made

The construction of a microchip, also called an integrated circuit, is a complex process involving several manufacturing steps.

The first phase, that of design, starts from the conception and design of the microchip. Engineers define the functionality and arrangement of components within the chip using specialized software.

We then move on to the fabrication of wafers, made using silicon as a base material. A silicon wafer is produced by a process called "crystal growing".

In this process, molten silicon is grown on a silicon seed to form a large crystal cylinder. Subsequently, the cylinder is cut into thin slices called wafers.

Subsequently, the silicon wafers undergo a cleaning process to remove any surface impurities and ensure maximum purity of the material.

At this point the creation of the circuit takes place, through the use of a series of photolithographic masks to "print" the model of the circuit on the wafer.

The masks are made of a photosensitive material and are exposed to an ultraviolet light through the wafer. This process transfers the circuit model to the photosensitive layer of the wafer.

After photolithography, the wafer undergoes a chemical etching process or plasma to remove the photosensitive layer and unwanted materials , leaving only the desired regions of the loop.

Thin layers of materials are then added, such as metals (usually aluminum or copper), oxides and nitrites, using chemical deposition techniques vapor phase (CVD) or sputtering. These layers serve to form the contacts and insulate the various parts of the circuit.

Another photolithography process is performed to define and etch the details of component structures on the chip, such as transistors, capacitors and lines of interconnection.

After the second photolithography, layers of conductive metals are deposited and subsequently engraved to create the lines of interconnection that connect the various components on the chip.

After the wafer is manufactured, the chips are tested to ensure that they function properly. Then, the working chips are cut from the wafer and are packaged in protective casings, often plastic or ceramic, with contact pins to connect them to external circuitry.

What are the main raw materials used to produce semiconductors

Microchips contain various materials, including some that can be considered "rare raw materials". The main components used are the following:

Silicon is the predominant base material used to manufacture microchips. It is abundant in the earth's crust and is widely available.

Gold is used for contacts and interconnections within microchips due to its excellent conductivity and corrosion resistance .

Copper is used in the interconnections and printed circuits inside the microchip due to its high electrical conductivity. Copper is an abundant and widely used material in many industries.

Aluminum is often used for contacts and conductor layers within microchips. It has good electrical conductivity and is widely available.

Germanium is less common than silicon but can be used in some specialized applications such as high-speed transistors.

Indium is used for the production of high-frequency transistors and liquid crystal displays (LCDs). It is a relatively rare and expensive material.

Gallium is used in some high-performance semiconductor devices. It is a rare and expensive material.

What are Gallium and Germanium

Gallium is a chemical element that has the symbol Ga in the periodic table. It is a soft, light silver colored metal and is used in various technological applications, including semiconductors.

It is often employed for the production of high-performance semiconductor devices such as high-frequency transistors, LEDs, lasers and thin-film solar cells.

Gallium is relatively abundant in the earth's crust, but is usually extracted as a byproduct of aluminum ore processing.

Germanium is a chemical element with the symbol Ge in the periodic table. It is a silver-gray semimetal and is widely used in semiconductor manufacturing.

Germanium was one of the first materials used to make transistors and diodes, and is still used in high-performance semiconductor devices. It is also employed in optical fibers and lenses for infrared spectroscopy.

Germanium is found primarily in zinc ore, sphalerite and argyrodite, and is mainly mined from zinc, copper and coal mines.

World production of Gallium and Germanium

As much as we all know the value of gold and its geographical origin, it is good to remember where gallium and germanium are extracted from and who holds the market.

Let's see who are the major gallium producers updated to 2021:

China is the world's leading producer of gallium, accounting for a significant share of global production.

Japan is another major producer of gallium, with several companies involved in the production of this element.

The United States also has a significant production of gallium, with several companies engaged in its extraction and production.

Russia is a notable producer of gallium, with several mines and production facilities.

Germany has a modest production of gallium.

Major Germanium producers updated to 2021:

China is the world's leading producer of germanium, accounting for a significant share of global production.

Russia is a major producer of germanium, with several mines and processing plants.

The United States also has a significant production of germanium, with active mines and companies engaged in its extraction.

Canada is another country that contributes to the world's production of germanium.

Belgium is home to some companies that deal with the processing and production of germanium.

With a view to a shift of the global political-military axes and the birth of new international coalitions, the availability of raw materials and of rare earths for civil and industrial needs, becomes a political weapon, an economic blackmail, a strategic advantage.

Automatic translation. We apologize for any inaccuracies. Original article in Italian.