SOVIET IMPORTS OF POLYCRYSTALLINE GERMANIUM

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP79T01003A001300230001-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 9
• Document Creation Date: December 9, 2016
• Document Release Date: November 8, 2000
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: November 6, 1962
• Content Type: BRIEF

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SECRET N? 17
Current Support Brief
CIA/RR CB 6 2- 6 8 No. Pages 4
6 November 1962
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
Office of Research and Reports
State Dept. declassification & release instructions on file
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SOVIET IMPORTS OF POLYCRYSTALLINE GERMANIUM
Large imports of germanium by the USSR in recent months probably
indicate an inability of domestic sources to supply adequate amounts of
this rare elementary metal to meet increases in production of electronic
semiconductor devices (transistors, signal diodes, and power rectifiers).
The current imports portend a substantial increase in Soviet production
of semiconductors in 1962 in comparison with that in 1961. Soviet pro-
duction of germanium semiconductor devices for all of 1962 could in-
crease by one-half and total production of semiconductors by one-fourth
from this source alone.
From December 1961 to August 1962, the USSR imported 9,150 kilo-
grams (kg) of polycrystalline germanium from the Societe' Generale de
Minerais of Belgium. I/ Shipments occurred in December 1961 and in
May, June, and August 1962. Converted into its primary end product,
these several thousand kg of germanium will yield many millions of tran-
sistors, signal diodes, and power rectifiers. Other uses of germanium
are negligible by comparison.
Some measure of the possible impact of these germanium imports
on the Soviet electronics industry can be realized by comparing the
yields of finished devices obtained in both the US and the USSR per kilo-
gram of polycrystalline germanium. In 1960 the US electronics industry
extracted an average of 8, 700 usable units from a kilogram.of germa-
nium. This figure cannot be applied directly to Soviet industry, because
of different levels of production technology and a different product mix,
but a rough figure of 3, 800 units per kilogram has been derived as a
minimum Soviet yield., using analogies from US industry weighted by
Soviet yield factors and product mix. 2/ Thus 9, 150 kg of polycrystal-
line germanium probably represents at least 35 million semiconductor
devices. Even this conservative estimate is about 54 percent of the
estimated Soviet production of germanium semiconductor devices in
1961 and about 22 percent of the estimated total Soviet output of all semi-
conductors in 1961. Estimated Soviet production of semiconductors of
6 November 1962 CIA/RR CB 62-68
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all types was 160 million units in 1961, and, of this total, 65 million
units were manufactured from germanium. Although semiconductors
also are made of silicon, selenium, copper oxide, and magnesium
copper sulfide, in the USSR, more semi,r-'onductors are made of germa-
nium than any other single element. Silicon semiconductors will be-
come increasingly important in the future because of their ability to
operate at higher temperatures, but at present production is limited
by the more exacting refining and manufacturing processes involved
in rendering silicon usable for the electronics industry.
Polycrystalline germanium was an embargoed item in East-West
trade by virtue of COCOM agreements before 1959, but currently this
metal is merely on the Watch List. COCOM members, who include all
major non-Communist exporters of germanium, are required to report
all shipments of Watch List items, but no restrictions are levied on the
amount or direction of trade. Significant exports of germanium to the
Sino-Soviet Bloc had not been reported before December 1961. Less
than 2, 000 kg of this metal had been sold to the various East European
Satellites and the USSR from January 1959 through November 1961 (see
the table).
Although the Societe' Ge-n6rale de Minerais apparently plans on a
long-term market in the USSR for their germanium, this expectation
may not be realistic. 3/ Soviet practices relative to strategic com-
modities such as germanium indicate that imports probably will be
terminated as soon as domestic production can meet requirements.
Moreover, there appears to be no lack of potential sources of ger-
manium within the USSR, although these sources may be costly to
exploit. Current surveys of Soviet production technology for semi-
conductors indicate some difficulties, especially in the refining of
germanium from a crude form to the highly pure state needed by the
electronics industry. Present Soviet imports, however, are believed
to reflect an imbalance that probably will be alleviated in the near
future. Significant imports of germanium by the USSR should dwindle
after 1965, the end of the Seven Year Plan (1959-65), unless more
effort is exerted to use semiconductors in the industrial and consumer
sectors of the Soviet economy.
6 November 1962 CIA/RR CB 62-68
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Sino-Soviet Bloc Imports a/ of Polycrystalline Germanium from Reporting COCOM Member Countries b/
1959 - Third Quarter of 1962
Kilograms
USSR Poland Hungary Czechoslovakia East Germany Communist China
1959 0 1 0 0
95
1960 0 52 15 200 0 234
1961 4,420 J 586.6 39.8 314 203.3 11
1962 (Three Quarters) 5,000 759.2 185.1 174 0 0
a. Imports by Poland were chiefly in the form of germanium dioxide, which converts to polycrystalline ger-
manium with a 35-percent loss of original weight. In addition, a small part of Poland's imports (69 kg) were
in a monocrystalline state that has been converted from polycrystalline germanium with a 10-percent loss in
original weight. Communist China also has imported some monocrystalline germanium (-I-1 kg), as have Czecho-
slovakia, East Germany, and Hungary, the latter three in negligible amounts.
b. There are believed to have been several unreported sales of germanium to the Bloc by Western countries
and some intra-Bloc sales, but these total no more than a few hundred kg.
c. The major portion of this amount -- 4-1-,150 kg -- was imported in December and-probably will bee .sedt: for
production in 1962.
6 Novernr_r 1962 CIA/RR CB 62-68
S-E-G-R-E-T
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1. Belgian Monthly COCOM Statistical Reports: S. 1463, Dec 61;
S. 1532, May 62; S. 1533, Jun 62; S. 1543, Aug 62. C.
2. Data on the methodology used to compute the product mix are
available in the files of this Office.
6 November 1962 CIA/RR CB 62-68
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OF IC.Ee OF RESEARCH AND REPORTS
Control Sheet
Series Number CIJRRCB 62-68
Date of Document 6 November 1962
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