Schottky diodes of Si-TiSi2 type have been prepared by annealing of sputtered Ti films on p-Si in a rapid thermal processing system. The thermal treatments were carried out in a nitrogen atmosphere at different temperatures and times. The aim of this work is the study of the stages of the silicide growth as well as the thermal stability of the diodes. Rutherford backscattering spectra were measured to analyse the influence of the thermal treatments on the elemental depth distribution in the diode structures. The ideality factor and the diode barrier height were determined from electrical measurements. The diodes show an ideality factor very close to unity. The barrier height phi(B) was calculated from both I-V and C-V curves, resulting in fairly close values. The values of phi(B) decrease from 0.55 eV for the as-deposited samples to a stable value of 0.51 eV for the diodes treated in the 635-1090-degrees-C temperature range for 20 s. Even after annealing at the highest temperatures, the diodes show an excellent rectifying behaviour.