SiH4
Silane · Silicon tetrahydride
Silane is a stable, insulating silicon hydride gas widely used as a precursor for depositing high-purity silicon in semiconductor and battery technology.
About Silane
Silane is a gaseous silicon hydride that serves as a fundamental building block in materials science. As a wide-band-gap insulator, it is highly valued for its role in chemical vapor deposition processes used to create high-purity silicon films and nanostructures.
Its thermodynamic stability ensures its reliability as a precursor in industrial synthesis. Beyond its role in electronics, it is increasingly studied within the context of silicon-based anode materials, where it acts as a critical source for developing high-capacity battery architectures.
Key Properties
Cross-validated computational properties for Silane, aggregated across 3 databases.
Band GapEnergy needed to move an electron from the valence band to the conduction band. Lower or zero values tend to behave more metallic; larger gaps are more insulating or semiconducting.
Energy Above HullThermodynamic distance from the most stable set of competing phases. 0 eV/atom is on the convex hull; small positive values may still be experimentally accessible.
StabilityA plain-language summary of the best reported energy-above-hull result. It reflects whether the lowest-energy structure is on, near, or far from the stability hull.
StructuresCount of reported calculated crystal structures for this formula, including alternate polymorphs, source databases, and observed space groups.
Cross-Source DFT Agreement
How well independent DFT databases agree on the thermodynamics of SiH4. Tight agreement means computed properties can be trusted without re-running calculations.
Agreement ScoreA normalized confidence score summarizing how closely independent DFT databases agree. Higher scores mean tighter cross-source agreement.
Hull SpreadDifference between the highest and lowest energy-above-hull values reported by comparable sources. Smaller spread means less thermodynamic disagreement.
Sources ComparedNumber and names of computational sources with comparable entries for this formula.
Space Group ConsensusWhether independent sources predict the same crystal symmetry for the lowest-energy structure.
Reported Structures
Lowest-energy structures reported for SiH4, ranked by energy above hull.
| Space GroupSymmetry classification of the crystal arrangement. The number is the international space-group index. | Crystal SystemBroad lattice family, such as cubic, tetragonal, monoclinic, or triclinic, derived from unit-cell symmetry. | Band Gap (eV)Electronic gap calculated for this specific reported structure, measured in electronvolts. | E above hull (eV/atom)Thermodynamic distance from the convex hull for this structure, normalized per atom. Lower is generally more stable. | E/atom (eV)Computed total energy normalized per atom. Use energy above hull, not this value alone, when comparing stability. | Density (g/cm³)Mass per relaxed crystal volume, reported in grams per cubic centimeter. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| P21/c (No. 14) | monoclinic | 6.56 | 0.0000 | -4.527 | 0.78 |
| P21/c (No. 14) | monoclinic | 6.14 | 0.0012 | -0.001 | — |
| — | — | 5.89 | 0.0413 | 0.041 | — |
| — | — | 5.04 | 0.0564 | 0.056 | — |
| — | — | 2.30 | 0.2202 | 0.220 | — |
| Cm (No. 8) | monoclinic | — | — | — | 2.01 |
| P-1 (No. 2) | triclinic | — | — | — | 2.70 |
| P-1 (No. 2) | triclinic | — | — | — | 2.06 |
| P-1 (No. 2) | triclinic | — | — | — | 1.39 |
| P-1 (No. 2) | triclinic | — | — | — | 1.52 |
| P-1 (No. 2) | triclinic | — | — | — | 1.69 |
| P2 (No. 3) | monoclinic | — | — | — | 0.98 |
Applications
Where Silane is used.
Patent Landscape
7 patents reference SiH4 or close compositional variants.
| Patent | Title | Assignee | Granted |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5997949 | Synthesis of W-Si-N films by chemical vapor deposition using WF.sub.6, SiH.sub.4 and NH.sub.3 | — | — |
| 6905963 | Fabrication of B-doped silicon film by LPCVD method using BCI3 and SiH4 gases | — | — |
| 6193813 | Utilization of SiH4 soak and purge in deposition processes | — | — |
| 4601798 | Continuous preparation of silane, SiH.sub.4 | — | — |
| 4405591 | Hydrogenation of chlorosilanes to silane, SiH.sub.4, in bath of molten salts | — | — |
| 4499063 | Preparation of silane, SiH.sub.4 | — | — |
| 5817576 | Utilization of SiH.sub.4 soak and purge in deposition processes | — | — |
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about Silane, answered from cross-validated data.
What is SiH4?
Silane is a stable, insulating silicon hydride gas widely used as a precursor for depositing high-purity silicon in semiconductor and battery technology.
What is SiH4 used for?
What is the band gap of SiH4?
Is SiH4 a metal, semiconductor, or insulator?
Is SiH4 thermodynamically stable?
What is the crystal structure of SiH4?
What is the density of SiH4?
How many polymorphs of SiH4 are known?
What elements does SiH4 contain?
Where does the data for SiH4 come from?
How It Compares
Within the silicon anode materials class.
While most members of the silicon-based class, such as FeSi, Mg2Si, and MoSi2, exist as dense, metallic or semi-metallic crystalline solids, silane is distinct due to its gaseous state and insulating electronic character. Unlike the structural stability found in elemental silicon or the complex silicides like BaSi2, silane provides a versatile molecular pathway for depositing silicon onto substrates, making it an essential chemical precursor rather than a structural component in battery electrodes.
Related Compounds
Other Silicon Anode Materials in the database.
Data sources & attribution
- materials_project — Data from the Materials Project (materialsproject.org). Cite: Jain et al., APL Materials 1, 011002 (2013). (CC-BY-4.0)
- jarvis — Data from JARVIS (jarvis.nist.gov), NIST. Cite: Choudhary et al., npj Comp. Mater. 6, 173 (2020). (LicenseRef-US-Gov-PD)
- oqmd — Data from the OQMD (oqmd.org). Cite: Saal et al., JOM 65, 1501 (2013); Kirklin et al., npj Comp. Mater. 1, 15010 (2015). (CC-BY-4.0)
- mpaloe — Data from MP-ALOE. Cite: Kuner et al., npj Comput. Mater. (2025), doi:10.1038/s41524-025-01834-9.
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