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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: combjelly who wrote (338067)	5/19/2007 5:54:07 PM
From: tejek	Respond to of 1573850

Isn't gallium also used in making some semi chips?" Gallium arsenide is used for optoelectronics. "I can't imagine its very plentiful." That doesn't follow. Silicon is used, and silicon is an extremely common element. On the surface no, but then gallium is used only in some semi chips. Now, as it turns out, there isn't much gallium extracted per year. It is usually the byproduct of aluminum or zinc mining, and currently has a small market, i.e. the semiconductor market. There is a reason why not too much gallium is extracted each year: "Gallium is often found as a trace element in diaspore, spalerite, germanite, bauxite and coal. Some flue dusts from burning coal have showned to contain as mch as 1.5 percent gallium." periodic.lanl.gov It is a strange metal.....more like mercury than like most other metals. When it solidifies, it fractures like glass and it has one of the longest liquid ranges of any metal.......plus it expands by 3.1%.