[eonwe]

I can feel for Mr. Kovar (the writer of the latter link).

Looking at his resume, he did wisen up and did his master's thesis in computer science. I trust he's happier now than as a undergrad student.

[wrycoder]

Ge is easily "soldered" using indium and an ultrasonic soldering iron. If you don't have those, good luck.

The standard technique is to set up a "Kelvin probe", with four contacts on the Ge sample. Pass a current from a constant current source (an IC or FET these days) between the outer two contacts and measure the voltage across the inner ones.

It doesn't sound like his lab assistant set up something at which he could succeed, and that's a shame. He couldn't even repeat the room temperature reading.