Polycide is a silicide

Silicide

A silicide is a compound that has silicon with more electropositive elements.Silicon is more electropositive than carbon. Silicides are structurally closer to borides than to carbides....

 formed over polysilicon. Widely used in DRAM

Dram

Dram or DRAM may refer to:As a unit of measure:* Dram , an imperial unit of mass and volume* Armenian dram, a monetary unit* Dirham, a unit of currency in several Arab nationsOther uses:...

s. In a polycide MOSFET

MOSFET

The metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistor is a transistor used for amplifying or switching electronic signals. The basic principle of this kind of transistor was first patented by Julius Edgar Lilienfeld in 1925...

 transistor

Transistor

A transistor is a semiconductor device used to amplify and switch electronic signals and power. It is composed of a semiconductor material with at least three terminals for connection to an external circuit. A voltage or current applied to one pair of the transistor's terminals changes the current...

 process, the silicide is formed only over the polysilicon film as formation occurs prior to any polysilicon etch. Polycide processes contrast with salicide

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...

 processes in which silicide is formed after the polysilicon etch. Thus, with a salicide process, silicide is formed over both the polysilicon gate and the exposed monocrystalline terminal regions of the transistor in a self-aligned

Self-aligned gate

A self-aligned gate, in electronics, is a transistor manufacturing feature whereby a highly doped gate electrode region of a MOSFET transistor is used as a mask for the doping of the source and drain around it...

fashion.