What is "salicide"

The term salicide refers to a technology used in the microelectronics industry used to form electrical contacts between the semiconductor device and the supporting interconnect structure. The salicide process involves the reaction of a thin metal film with silicon in the active regions of the device, ultimately forming a metal silicide contact through a series of annealing and/or etch processes. The term "salicide" is a compaction of the phrase self-aligned silicide. The description " self-aligned" suggests that the contact formation does not require lithographic patterning processes, as opposed to a non-aligned technology such as polycide. The term salicide is also used to refer to the metal silicide formed by the contact formation process, such as " titanium salicide", although this usage is inconsistent with accepted naming conventions in chemistry.