Germanium to Overtake Silicon?

Silicon has long been the undisputed elements behind creating transistors. Its semiconductor properties make it optimal for hosting the transfer of charges. Germanium, which is one spot below silicon on the periodic table, was experimented with in the 40s but set aside to make way for silicon because it was trickier to integrate into circuits.

Now, germanium's been making a comeback. A part of the advancement of technology has been an emphasis on miniaturization. Every gadget seems to be getting thinner and lighter, and scientists aren't sure that silicon transistors/circuits can keep up. That is why people have been turning to germanium, which, due to its position on the periodic table, can transfer charges much quicker than silicon. The limitation with using germanium had previously been making it comply with standard CMOS technology. Two types of circuits exists: nFETs, which use transistors to conduct negative charges, and pFETs, which utilize transistors to conduct positive charges. While germanium pFETs have been a "slam dunk," according Krishna Saraswat, an electrical engineer at Stanford University, the nFET version was lacking. But Purdue University engineer Peide Ye and his team have concocted a new design for germanium nFETs that could see the element be heavily used in the near future. Mark Bohr, a senior fellow at Intel, suggests that silicon scaling could be a thing of the past within a decade.

Source