Thermodynamic investigation of small germanium–tin clusters with a mass spectrometer

Abstract

The partial pressures of GeSn, Ge2Sn, GeSn2, and Ge3Sn have been measured above a mixture of tin, silicon, and germanium using the Knudsen effusion mass spectrometric method. Partial pressures and estimated thermal functions yield the atomization enthalpies, ΔHa,0, in kJ mol−1, of: 230±13 (GeSn), 490±22 (GeSn2), and 559±27 (Ge2Sn). For the molecules Ge3Sn, Ge4Sn, and SnC upper limits (for the atomization enthalpy) have been obtained as: 996±32, 1389±42, and 452±14, respectively.