Thermodynamic Properties of Solid Binary Antimonides

Thermodynamic measurements of antimony and its compounds can be divided into three classifications: measurement of heat capacity or enthalpy relative to a reference state, measurement of enthalpies of formation of antimonide compounds, and measurements leading to calculation of Gibbs energies of formation of these compounds. Alkali-metal antimonides decompose at lower temperatures than other compounds in this class and generate metal vapor as well as antimony; as a result, Langmuir and dewpoint methods have been used for these compounds. For the most part, thermodynamic information on the antimonide phase is generated on a need-to-know basis, so the largest database is for antimonides of interest for electronic applications. The only element in this group that forms a stable intermetallic phase with antimony is tin. The tin-antimony phase diagram is controversial; the most current experimental results suggest that there are two stable intermetallic phases