Metalloid sample price (Ge), to nearly three thousand times cheaper (As). Metalloid A metalloid is a type of chemical element which has properties in between, or that are a mixture of, those of metals and nonmetals. There is neither a standard definition of a metalloid nor complete agreement on the elements appropriately classified as such. Despite the lack of specificity, the term remains in use in the literature of chemistry. The six commonly recognised metalloids are boron, silicon, germanium, arsenic, antimony, and tellurium. Five elements are less frequently so classified: carbon, aluminium, selenium, polonium, and astatine. On a standard periodic table,
Metalloid otherwise the crystalline form results. These compounds are used in chemical, domestic, and industrial glassware and optics. Boron trioxide is used as a glass fibre additive, and is also a component of borosilicate glass, widely used for laboratory glassware and domestic ovenware for its low thermal expansion. Most ordinary glassware is made from silicon dioxide. Germanium dioxide is used as a glass fibre additive, as well as in infrared optical systems. Arsenic trioxide is used in the glass industry as a decolourizing and fining agent (for the removal of bubbles), as is antimony trioxide. Tellurium dioxide finds application in laser