Process for the preparation of halogenated oligosilanes Si n X 2n+2 with n = 2 to n = 6 as a pure compound or mixture of compounds whose substituents comprise
chlorine or
chlorine and
hydrogen, characterized in that (a) the starting materials for the process comprise elemental
silicon, SiCl4 and elemental
hydrogen in at least a catalytic amount, b) the HCl gas produced in the process is recycled to more than 5%, preferably more than 20%, particularly preferably more than 50%, in particular more than 80%, into the process, c) the process comprises a reaction of elemental
silicon with HCl as catalyst to form chlorinated oligosilanes, the reaction being carried out by a two-stage catalytic
reaction step, d) the process comprises a
plasma-
chemical synthesis step which is operated in a
pressure range of 0.1 hPa to 100 hPa, preferably 0.5 hPa to 30 hPa, particularly preferably 1 hPa to 10 hPa, in particular 1.5 hPa to 5 hPa, e) at least one further
silane is used as starting material and / or intermediate, selected from the group of hydrogenated
silanes, which includes HSiCl3, HSi2Cl5 and H2SiCl2, f) the reactants or the reactant mixture of the
plasma-
chemical synthesis step contain less than 1 atom% of C as such or in the form of its compounds and g) the process comprises at least one further step selected from a group comprising
distillation, chlorination and thermolysis.