What are the advantages over germanium?

Answer 1

I assume you mean the advantages of Silicon over Germanium in semiconductor devices.

Some of them are:

• Silicon will operate at junction temperatures up to 150C; Germanium will only operate at junction temperatures up to about 60C.
• Silicon oxides and nitrides are solid insulators, allowing formation of passivation layers over the edges of junctions and thus usage of non-hermetic plastic packages; Germanium oxides and nitrides are not insulators, leaving the edges of junctions exposed and open to surface contaminates forcing usage of metal or glass hermetic packaging, which costs more, to prevent device failure.
• Silicon ICs are simple to make using just photolithography processes; Germanium ICs would require manual wiring of the components after they were created using photolithography processes, making Germanium ICs impractical for mass production.
• etc.

Answer 2

Silicon has better thermal stability, lower noise levels, and higher reliability compared to germanium. Additionally, silicon is more abundant and less expensive, making it more cost-effective for mass production.