In 1857, German chemist h buff found that silane was only the object of a few researchers in the laboratory in the next 100 years or so, and had no use. In the 1950s, with the rise of semiconductor technology, people began to consider the advantages of silane, and silane began to be applied in the electronic industry. In the 1980s, the application of silane has changed greatly. With the emergence of a series of new technologies or the success of using silane to develop new products, the amount of silane used has increased dramatically. Every year, thousands of tons of silane are processed into ultra pure semiconductor silicon in the factory, and hundreds of tons of gas are used to make all kinds of new materials and devices. Considering that in most devices in these applications, the amount of gas consumed by each device is only mg or even microgram, and the thickness of the film made of silane is in the order of micron, it can be seen that the amount of silane mentioned above is not a small number. In the 1990s, a large number of new functional devices have been developed, including ultra-high speed, ultra large capacity computer chips, high-definition flat panel displays, high-efficiency and low-cost solar cells, high-performance ceramic engine parts, various special function sensors and so on. More and more new devices are still emerging, which need to use silane.
The reason why silanes are widely used and more and more important in high technology is related to its characteristics and the special needs of modern high technology. Through thermal decomposition or chemical reaction with other gases, a series of silicon-containing materials such as monocrystalline silicon, polycrystalline silicon, amorphous silicon, metal silicide, silicon nitride, silicon carbide, silicon oxide, etc. can be prepared from silane. Using silane can achieve the highest purity, the most fine (up to atomic size) control and the most flexible chemical reaction. Thus, various silicon-containing materials can be made into complex and fine structures according to various needs, which is the basic requirement for modern materials and devices with various special functions.
Silane is the first practical and the most widely used intermediate product in the production of high-purity silicon, commonly known as the silane method. The main method of producing high purity silicon is trichlorosilane method (Siemens method).
Another application of silane is amorphous semiconductor amorphous silicon. Compared with single crystal semiconductor materials, amorphous silicon is easy to form very thin (about 10nm thick) large area devices. The substrate can be glass, stainless steel, or even plastic, and the surface can be plane or curved. Therefore, it can be made into various devices with excellent performance.