silicon has several properties that make it preferable to germanium, the main ones being:
- higher junction temperature of operation without damage, 150C vs. only 60C
- silicon dioxide is a stable insulator making passivation, inexpensive plastic packages, and monolithic ICs possible vs. germanium oxide is a powdery water soluble solid requiring expensive hermetically sealed metal or glass packages
- silicon is more abundant than germanium on the earth
