WF6
Tungsten hexafluoride · Tungsten(VI) fluoride
Tungsten hexafluoride is a stable, insulating inorganic compound used extensively as a precursor for depositing tungsten metal in semiconductor fabrication.
About Tungsten hexafluoride
Tungsten hexafluoride is a highly significant inorganic compound characterized by its insulating electronic nature and exceptional thermodynamic stability. Its ability to remain stable on the convex hull makes it a reliable precursor in industrial chemical processes.
Due to its unique chemical properties, this compound is widely employed in the semiconductor industry. It serves as a critical source of tungsten for the deposition of thin films, which are essential for creating conductive pathways in modern microelectronic devices.
Key Properties
Cross-validated computational properties for Tungsten hexafluoride, 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 WF6. 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 WF6, 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. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pnma (No. 62) | orthorhombic | 5.36 | 0.0000 | -6.301 | 4.97 |
| — | — | 4.88 | 0.0000 | -2.924 | — |
| Pnma (No. 62) | orthorhombic | 0.83 | 0.0000 | -2.663 | — |
| — | — | 4.70 | 0.0068 | -2.917 | — |
| — | — | 4.96 | 0.0246 | -2.899 | — |
| — | — | 4.97 | 0.0589 | -2.865 | — |
| P1 (No. 1) | triclinic | — | — | — | 5.51 |
| Pnma (No. 62) | orthorhombic | — | — | — | 4.92 |
| P-1 (No. 2) | triclinic | — | — | — | 4.79 |
| P-1 (No. 2) | triclinic | — | — | — | 3.78 |
| P31m (No. 157) | trigonal | — | — | — | 8.74 |
| P-1 (No. 2) | triclinic | — | — | — | 6.54 |
Applications
Where Tungsten hexafluoride is used.
Patent Landscape
4 patents reference WF6 or close compositional variants.
| Patent | Title | Assignee | Granted |
|---|---|---|---|
| 9748105 | Tungsten deposition with tungsten hexafluoride (WF6) etchback | — | — |
| 5997949 | Synthesis of W-Si-N films by chemical vapor deposition using WF.sub.6, SiH.sub.4 and NH.sub.3 | — | — |
| 5963828 | Method for tungsten nucleation from WF.sub.6 using titanium as a reducing agent | — | — |
| 4751101 | Low stress tungsten films by silicon reduction of WF.sub.6 | — | — |
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about Tungsten hexafluoride, answered from cross-validated data.
What is WF6?
Tungsten hexafluoride is a stable, insulating inorganic compound used extensively as a precursor for depositing tungsten metal in semiconductor fabrication.
What is WF6 used for?
What is the band gap of WF6?
Is WF6 a metal, semiconductor, or insulator?
Is WF6 thermodynamically stable?
What is the crystal structure of WF6?
What is the density of WF6?
How many polymorphs of WF6 are known?
What elements does WF6 contain?
Where does the data for WF6 come from?
How It Compares
As a standalone member of its chemical class in this context, tungsten hexafluoride is distinguished by its high degree of structural characterization across multiple databases, reflecting its status as a foundational material for advanced thin-film manufacturing.
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)
- 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)
- jarvis — Data from JARVIS (jarvis.nist.gov), NIST. Cite: Choudhary et al., npj Comp. Mater. 6, 173 (2020). (LicenseRef-US-Gov-PD)
- mpaloe — Data from MP-ALOE. Cite: Kuner et al., npj Comput. Mater. (2025), doi:10.1038/s41524-025-01834-9.
- cod — Data from the Crystallography Open Database (crystallography.net/cod/). Cite: Grazulis et al., J. Appl. Cryst. 42, 726 (2009). (CC0-1.0)
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