Editing Samarium (section)

===Other inorganic compounds===
[[File:Samarium-sulfate.jpg|thumb|upright|alt=A tube of samarium sulfate|Samarium sulfate, Sm<sub>2</sub>(SO<sub>4</sub>)<sub>3</sub>]]
Samarium [[carbide]]s are prepared by melting a graphite-metal mixture in an inert atmosphere. After the synthesis, they are unstable in air and need to be studied under an inert atmosphere.<ref name="smc" /> Samarium monophosphide SmP is a [[semiconductor]] with a bandgap of 1.10&nbsp;eV, the same as in [[silicon]], and electrical conductivity of [[N-type semiconductor|n-type]]. It can be prepared by annealing at {{convert|1100|C|F}} an evacuated quartz ampoule containing mixed powders of phosphorus and samarium. Phosphorus is highly volatile at high temperatures and may explode, thus the heating rate has to be kept well below 1&nbsp;°C/min.<ref name="smp" /> A similar procedure is adopted for the monarsenide SmAs, but the synthesis temperature is higher at {{convert|1800|C|F}}.<ref name="smas" />

Numerous crystalline binary compounds are known for samarium and one of the group 14, 15, or 16 elements X, where X is Si, Ge, Sn, Pb, Sb or Te, and metallic alloys of samarium form another large group. They are all prepared by annealing mixed powders of the corresponding elements. Many of the resulting compounds are non-stoichiometric and have nominal compositions Sm<sub>a</sub>X<sub>b</sub>, where the b/a ratio varies between 0.5 and 3.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Gladyshevskii|first1=E. I.|last2=Kripyakevich|first2=P. I.|title=Monosilicides of rare earth metals and their crystal structures|journal=Journal of Structural Chemistry|volume=5|page=789|date=1965|doi=10.1007/BF00744231|issue=6|bibcode=1965JStCh...5..789G |s2cid=93941853}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Smith|first1=G. S.|last2=Tharp|first2=A. G.|last3=Johnson|first3=W.|title=Rare earth–germanium and –silicon compounds at 5:4 and 5:3 compositions|journal=Acta Crystallographica|volume=22|page=940|date=1967|doi=10.1107/S0365110X67001902|issue=6|doi-access=free|bibcode=1967AcCry..22..940S }}</ref>