Copper silicide
thin film is used for
passivation of
copper interconnects, where it serves to suppress
diffusion and
electromigration and serves as a
diffusion barrier. Copper silicides are invoked in the
Direct process, the industrial route to
organosilicon compounds. In this process, copper, in the form of its silicide, catalyses the addition of
methyl chloride to silicon. An illustrative reaction affords the industrially useful
dimethyldichlorosilane: :2 CH3Cl + Si → (CH3)2SiCl2 ==References==