Accurate ab initio anharmonic force field and heat of formation for silane

From large basis set coupled cluster calculations and a minor empirical adjustment, an anharmonic force field for silane has been derived that is consistently of spectroscopic quality (±1 cm^?1 on vibrational fundamentals) for all isotopomers of silane studied. Inner-shell polarization functions have an appreciable effect on computed properties and even on anharmonic corrections. From large basis set coupled cluster calculations and extrapolations to the infinite-basis set limit, we obtain TAE₀ = 303.80 ± 0.18 kcal mol^?1, which includes an anharmonic zero-point energy (19.59 kcal mol^?1), inner-shell correlation (—0.36 kcal mol^?1), scalar relativistic corrections (— 0.70 kcal mol^?1) and atomic spin-orbit corrections (—0.43 kcal mol^?1). In combination with the recently revised ΔH ^o _{f, o}Si(g)], we obtain ΔH ^o _f.oSiH₄(g)] = 9.9 ± 0.4 kcal mol^?1 in between the two established experimental values.