Hexafluoroethane, also known as perfluoroethane, is the product of all six hydrogen atoms in ethane replaced by fluorine atoms. It is a halogenated hydrocarbon (chemical formula: C2F6) and a perfluorochemical corresponding to hydrocarbon ethane. It is a non-flammable gas, insoluble in water and slightly soluble in alcohol.

Hexafluoroethane is commonly used in the production of semiconductors, mainly as a versatile etching technique, which can be used for selective etching of metal silicides and metal oxides relative to their metal matrix.  It is also used to etch silicon dioxide on the silicon. Hexafluoroethane can also be used in refrigerants R508A (61% hexafluoroethane) and R508B (54% hexafluoroethane) together with trifluoromethane.

The preparation methods of hexafluoroethane are mainly as follows:

1. Electrochemical fluorination, in which acetylene, ethylene or ethane are fluorinated under the condition of point hydrolysis.

2. Pyrolysis, through the thermal decomposition reaction between tetrafluoroethylene and carbon dioxide.

3. Fluoridation of metal fluoride, such as acetylene, ethylene and ethane, reacts with metal fluoride.

4. Hydrogen fluoride catalytic fluorination, fluorinated halogenated ethane compounds in the presence of a catalyst. The by-products and chlorine gas produced in the process of producing pentafluoro-ethane were used as raw materials to produce pentafluoro-ethane by photochemical method, and the pentafluoro-ethane and hydrogen fluoride were prepared by liquid phase antimony fluoride catalysis.

5. Direct fluorination: activated carbon, acetylene, ethane, pentafluoroethane and other gases react directly with fluorine gas.