Electron tunneling throughAl ‐ Al2O3 ‐ Ge ‐ Mtunnel junctions was studied between 300 ‐ 1.2 K for different thicknesses t of the amorphous Ge layer. Depending on temperature T and thickness t two competing processes are observed: (i) fort < ddirect tunneling to the metallic top electrode M, which was Al or Sn, and (ii) fort > dtunneling to an intermediate localized state in a‐Ge. The critical thickness d increases linearly with T−1/4. Using the variable range tunneling model of Sauvageet al.and the slope of this curve one obtains∝−1 = 8 Åfor the decay parameter of the localized state wavefunction. Effects of alloying at the Ge‐M interface are seen in the tunnel characteristics when Al and M are superconducting. Magnetic fields up to 65 KG had no effect on the very sharp minimum of the tunneling conductance at zero bias and 4.2 K. Different models leading to a tunnel characteristic which is symmetric with respect to bias reversal are discussed.