Market & Customer
SILIKEN CHEMICALS set up a silicon plant in Casas Ibáñez (Albacete, Spain). This is the first of its kind in Spain for the production of trichlorosilane and polysilicon for the semiconductor and photovoltaic markets.
Trichorosilane (SiHCl3)
Trichlorosilane has been, and currently is, the major chemical compound for the production of polysilicon, regardless of the deposition method used (the so-called Siemens Process or, alternatively, the Fluidized Bed Reactor). It is also known as trichloromonosilane, silicon trichloride, silicochloroform.
Apart from the polysilicon industry, trichlorosilane is also used as the base material for the conversion to organo-silanes, which are the key products for adhesion promoters.
Two different methods dominate the market for the production of trichlorosilane:
- Reaction with low-purity (normally metallurgical – grade silicon), silicon tetrachloride and hydrogen in a Fluidized Bed Reactor.
3 SiCl4 + 2H2 + Si -> 4 SiHCl3
- Low-purity silicon reaction with Hydrogen Chloride in a Fluidized Bed Reactor.
Si + 3HCl -> SiHCl3 + H2
These processes, the chemistry and the reactions have been well known for decades. Nevertheless, the special conditions of the reactants and the trichlorosilane itself has made the processing and operation of the trichlorosilane plants very delicate. Trichlorosilane is a hazardous material (toxic, corrosive and inflammable in contact with air at low energy thresholds).
SILIKEN CHEMICALS aims at becoming a major player in the trichlorosilane sector. In order to achieve this goal, a total capacity of 12.000mT/year is already installed and operative at the Casas Ibáñez site. Our business models include:
- Customers providing their own transport systems and loading trichlorosilane directly at the Casas Ibáñez plant.
- Customers desiring a full delivery service. In this case, together with selected logistics partners, SILIKEN CHEMICALS has developed a service capable to transport and supply trichlorosilane to customer sites, wherever they are located. Our partners hold all legal permits and authorisations required and are authorised to transport trichlorosilane adapting to the existing and specific Regulations and Codes applicable for every country or region.
Polysilicon
Polysilicon is the basic raw material for the electronic and solar industry.
Starting from trichlorosilane, polysilicon is obtained at an industrial scale through two basic methods.
- The so-called Siemens Process, in which the deposition of silicon from trichlorosilane occurs directly in a chamber and on the surface of electrically heated polysilicon rods.
- The Fluidized Bed Reactor (FBR) method, in which the trichlorosilane is normally injected through a nozzle in the bottom of a heated vertical tube, where gaseous trichlorosilane decomposes into small silicon particles that will epitaxially grow in size and volume controlling the contact period between the gas and the particles inside the vertical tube.
The Siemens process is the most widely used method in the industry. However, Fluidized Bed Reactors produce silicon with much lower energy consumption and require less capital investment and manpower for normal operation, which makes them much more cost-effective. SILIKEN CHEMICALS has developed its own technology and implemented the techniques needed for the production of silicon in the form of beads through the Fluidized Bed Reactor process.
