Post-transition metal traditionally used for tools.' In modern use, the term 'semimetal' sometimes refers, loosely or explicitly, to metals with incomplete metallic character in crystalline structure, electrical conductivity or electronic structure. Examples include gallium, ytterbium, bismuth, mercury and neptunium. Metalloids, which are in-between elements that are neither metals nor nonmetals, are also sometimes instead called semimetals. The elements commonly recognised as metalloids are boron, silicon, germanium, arsenic, antimony and tellurium. In old chemistry, before the publication in 1789 of Lavoisier's 'revolutionary' "Elementary Treatise on Chemistry", a semimetal was a metallic element with 'very imperfect ductility and malleability' such as zinc, mercury or
Minor metals 40 percent of all production, but that China's share of global production increased 34 percent between 2000 and 2009. Minor metals are used in a wide diversity of end-use applications, from capacitors for consumer electronics (tantalum) and metallic cathodes for rechargeable batteries (cobalt) to photovoltaic solar cells (silicon) and semiconductor materials (gallium and indium).The primary end-uses of minor metals can also help to categorize the metals into four groups: Metals often classified as minor metals include: Antimony (Sb), Arsenic (As), Beryllium (Be), Bismuth (Bi), Cadmium (Cd), Cerium (Ce), Chromium (Cr), Cobalt (Co), Gadolinium (Gd), Gallium (Ga), Germanium (Ge), Hafnium (Hf),