Inert markers (evaporated tungsten and silver) were used in growth studies of silicides formed both by thermal annealing and by ion mixing in the Ni/Si, Pd/Si, and Cr/Si systems. The markers were initially imbedded inside silicides and backscattering spectrometry was used to determine the marker displacement after different processing conditions. The results obtained in thermal annealing are quite consistent with that found in previous investigations. Ni is the dominant diffusing species in Ni2Si, while Si is the diffusing species in CrSi2. In Pd2Si, both Pd and Si are moving species with Pd the faster of the two. In contrast, in growth of silicides by ion irradiation Si is the faster diffusing species in all three systems.