Book excerpt: Tremendous advances have been made in the use of silicides as contacts and interconnects in micro-electronic devices and as active layers in sensors. A flourish of novel fabrication concepts and characterization techniques has led to high-quality silicide devices and a better understanding of the electronic and micrometallurgical properties of their interfaces. However, the shrinking physical dimensions of ULSI devices beyond the deep submicron regime now poses new and serious materials challenges for the development of manufacturable silicide processes. Scientists and engineers from materials science, physics, chemistry, device, processing and other disciplines come together in this book to examine the current issues facing silicide thin-film applications. Topics include: silicide fundamentals - energetics and kinetics; processing of silicide thin films; ULSI issues; CVD silicides; semiconducting silicides; processing of germano-silicide thin films; silicides and analogs for IR detection; interfaces, surfaces and epitaxy; novel structures and techniques and properties of silicide thin films.