Antimony is being increasingly used in the semiconductor industry as a dopant for heavily doped n @-@ type silicon wafers in the production of diodes , infrared detectors , and Hall @-@ effect devices . In the 1950s , tiny beads of a lead @-@ antimony alloy was used to dope the emitters and collectors of n @-@ p @-@ n alloy junction transistors with antimony . Indium antimonide is used as a material for mid @-@ infrared detectors .