A thermodynamic analysis of the Cu-Sn-P system was performed using the CALPHAD technique. To overcome the lack of experimental information on thermodynamic properties, the formation enthalpies of binary and ternary phosphides were evaluated using a first-principles energetic calculation method; specific heats of these phosphides at constant pressure were also calculated using the quasiharmonic and Debye-Grüneisen approximations. We concluded that the ternary compound Cu 4 SnP 10 , detected experimentally using X-ray investigation, was unstable; however because of lack of data on its thermodynamic properties, further experimental and thermodynamic investigations on this ternary phosphide are required.

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