Diodes, transistors, and solar cells are all examples of semiconductor devises used in many of the electronics of today (phones, radios, computers, kwk). One of the major components of semiconductor technology is the "growing" of crystals to create the appropriate material micro-structure.
This same semiconductor technology is used by many traditional Kmtyw Numu/Ngangula. Groups such as the Oyo of present-day Nigeria and the Haya of Tanzania as well as Kmtyws in certain parts of Ghana and Ethiopia were capable of efficiently producing high strength carbon steel 2,500 years ago at temperatures in excess of 3,300 F using this crystalline (semiconductor-like) technology.
Kmtyw achievements are frequently minimized and this technology will be mistakenly called simply "iron smelting." The difference between iron and steel is the addition of 0.5 - 1.5% carbon. This gives steel an increased level of strength over iron.
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"The hardest known metal alloy, and the hardest known metal in general, is a type of carbon steel, Alloy 1090. With a tensile strength of .84 GPa (122,000 psi) and a yield strength of .64 GPa (67,000 psi), carbon steel is surpassed in hardness only by very hard nonmetals, such as ruby, diamond, or aggregated diamond nanorods." source: What is the Hardest Metal? (http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-the-hardest-metal.htm)
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"It is known that well into the 20th century , the steel forged by local smiths in Nigeria and Ghana was considered superior to the variety imported from [e]urope. This superiority was demonstrated in spectacular, if unheralded fashion, when an attempt was made to cut through a native steel sample in Accra, Ghana:
[A] sample was taken from a bloom kept as a curiosity in the compound of Sowle Wakyesu at Lawra. The bloom was a saucer-shaped specimen of about 4 kg... One assumes that it had already been reheated and hammered together since the sponge-coral surface normally associated with the bloom is absent. In an attempt to cut a sample from this bloom in Accra, seemingly no impression could be made on it with an alloyed rotary diamond blade."
Excerpt from: The Star of Deep Beginnings: The Genesis of Kmtyw Science and Technology by Charles S. Finch III, MD (pg. 45-46)
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YouTube - Inagina: The Last House of Iron - PREVIEW (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zozKgGbaaxQ&feature=related)
I referenced this with my students in discussing how ameripeans flood markets with cheap low quality goods (iron bars) to destroy indigenous industries and eventually becoming the monopoly when the indigenous industry collapses. The discussion of the Jamaican dairy industry in Life and Debt brought the subject up and we explored it further in The Great Kmtyw Scandal documentary dealing with Ghanaian rice.
I saw Inagina a few years back and it's foreshadowing to what looms on the horizon for everything that Kmtyw people have ever known how to do for ourselves.
Aane, wommoa. Nananom se: Obi mfa ne kɔre-takra nkɔsesa opete-takra.
Yes, you ain't nevah lie. The Nananom say: A person does not exchange eagle feathers for vulture feathers.
Ampa! Yɛmfa obi nan nnante! :blackcon_soldier_ta