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Silane is a chemical compound with chemical formula SiH₄. It is the silicon analogue of methane. At room temperature, silane is presumed to be a pyrophoric gas — it spontaneously undergoes combustion in air without the need for external ignition. However, there is a school of thought which says that silane is stable and that it is the natural formation of larger silanes during production which causes its pyrophoricity. Above 420°C, silane decomposes into silicon and hydrogen; it can therefore be used in the chemical vapor deposition of silicon. A chemical compound is a chemical substance formed from two or more elements, with a fixed ratio determining the composition. ... A chemical formula (also called molecular formula) is a concise way of expressing information about the atoms that constitute a particular chemical compound. ... General Name, Symbol, Number silicon, Si, 14 Chemical series metalloids Group, Period, Block 14, 3, p Appearance dark gray, bluish tinge Atomic mass 28. ... General Name, Symbol, Number hydrogen, H, 1 Chemical series nonmetals Group, Period, Block 1, 1, s Appearance colorless Atomic mass 1. ... General Name, Symbol, Number silicon, Si, 14 Chemical series metalloids Group, Period, Block 14, 3, p Appearance dark gray, bluish tinge Atomic mass 28. ... The simplest hydrocarbon, methane, is a gas with a chemical formula of CH4. ... Room temperature, in laboratory reports, is taken to be roughly 21–23 degrees Celsius (69-73 degrees Fahrenheit), or 294–296 kelvins. ... A pyrophoric substance is a substance that ignites spontaneously, that is, its autoignition temperature is below room temperature. ... Combustion or burning is a chemical process, an exothermic reaction between a substance (the fuel) and a gas (the oxidizer), usually O2, to release heat. ... Look up air in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... General Name, Symbol, Number hydrogen, H, 1 Chemical series nonmetals Group, Period, Block 1, 1, s Appearance colorless Atomic mass 1. ... DC plasma (violet) enhances the growth of carbon nanotubes in this laboratory-scale PECVD apparatus. ...

More generally, a silane is any silicon analogue of an alkane hydrocarbon. Silanes consist of a chain of silicon atoms covalently bound to hydrogen atoms. The general formula of a silane is Si_nH_2n+2. Silanes tend to be less stable than their carbon analogues because the Si-Si bond has a strength slightly lower than the C-C bond. Oxygen decomposes silanes easily, because the silicon-oxygen bond is quite stable. An alkane in organic chemistry is a saturated hydrocarbon without cycles, that is, an acyclic hydrocarbon in which the molecule has the maximum possible number of hydrogen atoms and so has no double bonds. ... Covalently bonded hydrogen and carbon in a molecule of methane. ... A chemical bond is the physical phenomenon of chemical substances being held together by attraction of atoms to each other through sharing, as well as exchanging, of electrons or electrostatic forces. ... General Name, Symbol, Number oxygen, O, 8 Chemical series Nonmetals, chalcogens Group, Period, Block 16, 2, p Appearance colorless Atomic mass 15. ...

There exists a regular nomenclature for silanes. Each silane's name is the word silane preceded by a numerical prefix (di, tri, tetra, etc.) for the number of silicon atoms in the molecule. Thus Si₂H₆ is disilane, Si₃H₈ is trisilane, and so forth. There is no prefix for one; SiH₄ is simply silane. Silanes can also be named like any other inorganic compound; in this naming system, silane is named silicon tetrahydride. However, with longer silanes, this becomes cumbersome.

A cyclosilane is a silane in a ring, just as a cycloalkane is an alkane in a ring. A cyclosilane is a silane in a ring, like a cycloalkane is an alkane in a ring. ... Cycloalkanes are chemical compounds with a one or more rings of carbons to which hydrogens are attached according to the formula CnH2n. ...

Branched silanes are possible. The radical SiH₃^- is called silyl, Si₂H₅^- is disilanyl etc. If we have trisilane with a silyl group attached to the middle silicon, we have silyltrisilane. It parallels alkanes. In chemistry, radicals (often referred to as free radicals) are atomic or molecular species with unpaired electrons on an otherwise open shell configuration. ...

Silanes can also take the same functional groups as alkanes, OH to make a silanol. There is (at least in principle) a silicon analogue for all carbon alkanes. Oh can refer to: An abbreviation for the U.S. State of Ohio. ... General Silanols are compounds containing silicon atoms to which hydroxy substituents bond directly. ...

Production

Industrially, silane is produced from metallurgical grade silicon in a two-step process. In the first step, powdered silicon is reacted with hydrochloric acid at about 300 °C to produce trichlorosilane, HSiCl₃, along with hydrogen gas, according to the chemical equation: The chemical substance hydrochloric acid is the aqueous (water-based) solution of hydrogen chloride (HCl) gas. ... Trichlorosilane is a chemical compound containing silicon, hydrogen, and chlorine. ... General Name, Symbol, Number hydrogen, H, 1 Chemical series nonmetals Group, Period, Block 1, 1, s Appearance colorless Atomic mass 1. ... A chemical equation is a symbolic representation of a chemical reaction. ...

Si + 3 HCl → HSiCl₃ + H₂

The trichlorosilane is then boiled on a resinous bed containing a catalyst which promotes its disproportionation to silane and silicon tetrachloride according to the chemical equation: Insect trapped in resin. ... A catalyst (Greek: καταλύτης, catalytēs) is a substance that accelerates the rate (speed) or ease of a chemical reaction (see also catalysis) without itself being changed at the end of the chemical reaction . ... Disproportionation is a concept in chemistry and is a redox reaction where a reactant is both oxidised and reduced in the same chemical reaction. ... Silicon tetrachloride (SiCl4) is a colourless volatile liquid. ...

4 HSiCl₃ → SiH₄ + 3 SiCl₄

The most commonly used catalysts for this process are metal halides, particularly aluminium chloride. Hot metal work from a blacksmith Look up Metal in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... The halogens are a chemical series. ... Aluminium chloride (AlCl3) is a compound of aluminium and chlorine. ...

Applications

Several industrial and medical applications exist for silanes. For instance, silanes are used as coupling agents to adhere glass fibers to a polymer matrix, stabilizing the composite material. They can also be used to couple a bio-inert layer on a titanium implant. Other applications include water repellents, masonry protection, control of graffiti [1], applying polycrystalline silicon layers on silicon wafers when manufacturing semiconductors, and sealants. Bundle of fiberglass Fiberglass or fibreglass is material made from extremely fine fibers of glass. ... Polymer is a generic term used to describe a very long molecule consisting of structural units and repeating units connected by covalent chemical bonds. ... Composite materials (or composites for short) are engineered materials made from two or more constituent materials that remain separate and distinct on a macroscopic level while forming a single component. ... General Name, Symbol, Number titanium, Ti, 22 Chemical series transition metals Group, Period, Block 4, 4, d Appearance silvery metallic Atomic mass 47. ... A United States soldier demonstrates Foosball with two prosthetic limbs In medicine, a prosthesis is an artificial extension that replaces a missing part of the body. ... A brick wall built using the Flemish Bond Masonry is the building of structures from individual units laid in and bound together by mortar. ... For other uses, see Graffiti (disambiguation). ... Polycrystalline silicon or polysilicon or poly-Si is a material consisting of multiple small silicon crystals, and has long been used as the conducting gate material in MOSFET and CMOS processing technologies. ...

External links

• Computational Chemistry Wiki