SnC

SnC is a semiconducting tin-carbon compound primarily studied for its structural diversity and potential applications in advanced electronic materials.

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Crystal structure of SnC (cubic, F-43m (No. 216))
Ground-state structure · Materials Project
Overview

About SnC

SnC is a binary compound composed of tin and carbon. As a semiconducting material, it represents an interesting intersection of group 14 elements, drawing significant interest from researchers investigating novel thin-film architectures and potential electronic components.

Despite its academic interest, the compound is characterized by its position above the thermodynamic hull, suggesting it is a metastable phase. Its status as a highly studied material is reflected in the extensive number of structural configurations reported across various computational databases.

At a glance

Key Properties

Cross-validated computational properties for SnC, aggregated across 3 databases.

Band Gap

0.63 eV
Range across DFT structures

Energy Above Hull

0.818 eV/atom
Best (lowest) across sources

Stability

Above hull
2 DFT sources

Structures

107
3 databases, 26 space groups
Crystallography

Reported Structures

Lowest-energy structures reported for SnC, ranked by energy above hull.

Space GroupCrystal SystemBand Gap (eV)E above hull (eV/atom)E/atom (eV)Density (g/cm³)
F-43m (No. 216)cubic0.630.8178-16.5296.60
Fm-3m (No. 225)cubic0.001.2955-16.0517.90
P-1 (No. 2)Triclinic4.24
P1 (No. 1)Triclinic5.31
P1 (No. 1)Triclinic2.08
Pccn (No. 56)Orthorhombic5.91
P-1 (No. 2)Triclinic2.55
P1 (No. 1)Triclinic2.03
Amm2 (No. 38)Orthorhombic6.69
P1 (No. 1)Triclinic2.10
P1 (No. 1)Triclinic2.41
C2 (No. 5)Monoclinic9.01
Uses

Applications

Where SnC is used.

Semiconductor researchThin-film material studiesComputational materials science
Reference

Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions about SnC, answered from cross-validated data.

What is SnC?

SnC is a semiconducting tin-carbon compound primarily studied for its structural diversity and potential applications in advanced electronic materials.

More questions
What is SnC used for?
SnC is used in semiconductor research, thin-film material studies, and computational materials science.
What is the band gap of SnC?
SnC has a DFT-computed band gap of 0.63 eV across 107 reported structures.
Is SnC a metal, semiconductor, or insulator?
With a band gap up to 0.63 eV it is a semiconductor.
Is SnC thermodynamically stable?
SnC has a lowest energy above hull of 0.818 eV/atom (above hull).
What is the crystal structure of SnC?
The lowest-energy reported polymorph of SnC is cubic symmetry, space group F-43m (No. 216).
What is the density of SnC?
The computed density of the ground-state structure of SnC is 6.60 g/cm³.
How many polymorphs of SnC are known?
107 structures of SnC are reported across 3 databases, spanning 26 distinct space groups.
What elements does SnC contain?
SnC contains C and Sn (2 elements).
Where does the data for SnC come from?
SnC data is cross-referenced from materials_project, mpaloe.
Comparison

How It Compares

As a unique binary system within the tin-carbon landscape, SnC serves as a foundational reference point for understanding metastable group 14 semiconductors where traditional bonding patterns are challenged by the distinct atomic radii of its constituents.

Data sources & attribution
  • materials_project — Data from the Materials Project. Cite: Jain et al., APL Materials 1, 011002 (2013).
  • mpaloe — Data from mpaloe.

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