Gallium

Gallium was discovered in 1875 by the French chemist Paul-Émile Lecoq de Boisbaudran. Earlier, the Russian chemist Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev had predicted the existence of an element that would lie between aluminum and indium in the periodic table. This then-undiscovered element was referred to as eka-aluminum. In honor of his homeland, Lecoq de Boisbaudran named his discovery gallium.

Gallium remained largely unnoticed for a long time because it could not be economically extracted from ores. Due to its poor availability and the resulting high price, interest in gallium and its chemistry was limited.

Interest in the element grew with the discovery of the semiconductor properties of gallium compounds.

In 2024, the estimated global consumption of gallium was around 600 tons per year. The main consumer is the electronics and semiconductor industry.

About three-quarters of the gallium is used for the production of gallium nitride (GaN) and gallium arsenide (GaAs) wafers. GaAs and GaN outperform silicon as semiconductor materials in terms of speed, heat resistance, and energy efficiency.

GaAs wafers are used in 5G and 6G mobile communication chips, satellite and radar systems, and in optoelectronics (LEDs, laser diodes, solar cells).

Fast chargers, inverters for electric vehicles, data centers, fiber optics, and defense systems such as radars use GaN semiconductors.

Smaller amounts of gallium are also used in medicine and research.

Gallium is produced as a byproduct of aluminum and zinc production. Therefore, bauxite and sphalerite are the most important minerals. China’s monopoly on gallium is particularly noticeable, as the country controls between 80 and 95 percent of global production. The leading gallium producers are China Germanium, a subsidiary of Yunnan Chihong Zinc & Germanium, and the state-owned aluminum company Chinalco.

Until 2015, the Germany-based company Ingal Stade was the largest gallium producer outside of China. However, the operation was shut down in 2016.

Liquid crystals made from organic compounds are used as a gallium substitute in LEDs for optical displays.

Complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) power amplifiers based on silicon compete with GaAs power amplifiers in mid-range third-generation (3G) mobile phones.

Indium phosphide components can replace GaAs-based infrared laser diodes in some applications with specific wavelengths, and helium-neon lasers compete with GaAs in applications with visible laser diodes.

Silicon is the main competitor to GaAs in solar cell applications.

In many defense-related applications, GaAs- and GaN-based circuits are used due to their unique properties, for which there are no effective substitutes.