Silane
Silane (SiH4) is a key precursor for production of elemental silicon in both the photovoltaic and semiconductor industries. It is also the precursor for production of disilane.
Today, commercial silane is produced through the hydrochlorination of metallurgical silicon to produce trichlorosilane (TCS) followed by disproportionation of TCS. The overall chemistry of this process is summarized by the following chemical equations:
4SiHCl3 → 3SiCl4 + 1SiH4
AMS owns silane technology that started commercial operation in 2014. Our team has experience designing silane production units ranging in size from 500 metric tons annually (MTA) up to a single line producing over 12,000 MTA. AMS’s silane technology can produce silane meeting the VLSI specification.
In addition to the traditional silane production scheme, AMS has technology for an integrated reactive distillation process to reduce energy usage while maintaining product quality.
AMS’s offering ranges from detailed basic engineering packages to turnkey silane plants.