Sustainable developments of a material system are not only depending on the application aspects, but also on many other effects including resources, capitals, geopolitics, etc. Table 4 listed the earth's crust abundance of some elements related to group IV, III-V and II-VI semiconductors, including their density and melting points. The noble metal silver and gold were also included for comparison. The dependence of resources for different types of applications is certainly different. As an example, the material consumed for bulky solar cells should be very high, but for thin film solar cells could be much lower. Among the elements for III-Vs, the abundances are below 1 ppm for In, Sb and Bi, whereas Al and P should be sufficient. Certainly, earth's crust abundance is not the only factor, the mineralization, mine grade, mining and smelt, as well as the extraordinary purification of the elements for semiconductors, all play very important role, say nothing of capitals and geopolitics. Fortunately, the resources of some crust rare elements as In, Sb and Bi are relative rich regionally, and others are not poor, sufficient to support our sustainable developments of III-Vs.
http://journal.sitp.ac.cn/hwyhmb/hwyhmbcn/article/abstract/2022263?st=article_issue
DOI: 10.11972/j.issn.1001-9014.2022.06.001

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