"Metallic silicon" (also known as industrial silicon in my country) is a commercial name that emerged in the mid-1960s. Its emergence is related to the rise of the semiconductor industry. Internationally, commercial silicon is generally divided into metallic silicon and semiconductor silicon. Metallic silicon is a product smelted from quartz and coke in an electric furnace. Its main component, silicon, contains approximately 98% silicon (including those with 99.99% Si content), with the remaining impurities being iron, aluminum, calcium, etc.
Semiconductor silicon is high-purity metallic silicon used to manufacture semiconductor devices. It is sold in polycrystalline and monocrystalline forms, with the former being cheaper and the latter more expensive. It is classified into various specifications based on its different applications. Statistics show that in 1985, the world consumed approximately 500,000 tons of metallic silicon, of which about 60% was used for aluminum alloys, less than 30% for organosilicon, about 3% for semiconductors, and the remainder for steel smelting and precision ceramics, etc.
