A metallurgical route to produce upgraded silicon and monosilane

We studied alumothermic reduction of silica from silicate slag to obtain silicon-containing Alloy-I and Alloy-II. Phosphorous industry waste and synthetic slag are used as a silicate slag that consists of more than 90% silicon and calcium oxides and less than l0% other elemental oxides. Silicon-containing Alloy-I was upgraded by acid leaching to silicon of a fine powder structure. Using this powder, we grew poly- and mono-crystalline p-type silicon, with resistivity of ∼0.24 Ω cm, by the Czochralski method. Silicon-containing Alloy-II was used for obtaining monosilane by aqueous treatment with hydrochloric acid under atmospheric conditions and without any catalyst. There was no trace of diborane, which is a common source for boron contamination in crude silane.