[4] It was originally thought to be a Type I superconductor, but 7 K may actually be the strong-coupling regime, despite the low temperature.
[5] The density of electronic states has a local maximum at the Fermi level, composed of tin p and d orbitals.
[4] The intermetallic is difficult to form, slowly crystallizing from a mixture of Sn and YSn2 above 515 °C (959 °F).
Doping with nickel puckers the planes, and Mössbauer spectroscopy suggests that it removes electron density from the tin s orbitals.
[7] Y5Sn3 has the hexagonal manganese silicide crystal structure, with unit cell 8.88×6.52×0.73 Å.