In order to eliminate the disadvantages of the Ti interlayer technique in forming epitaxial CoSi2 films on (100)Si substrates, a new kind of Ti-capping layer method was employed to grow CoSi2 films on (100)Si substrates. In this study, a layer of (200) textured Co film covered with a Ti-capping layer was annealed by rapid thermal annealing at different temperatures. X-ray diffraction patterns showed a (220) preferred orientation Of COSi2 and the skipping of the intermediate phase Co2Si in the Ti-capped sample. The mechanism of the formation (220) preferred CoSi2, film was discussed and uncapped samples were used as counterparts to illuminate the effects of the Ti-capping layer. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.