Xe ion irradiation of polycrystalline silicon before Ti deposition is found to affect subsequent silicide formation. Silicide films were prepared by implanting 60, 100, or 240 keV Xe+ions into 500‐nm‐thick undoped polycrystalline silicon before depositing Ti and annealing in vacuum. Preimplantation altered the subsequent silicide resistivity, x‐ray diffraction patterns, and morphology as compared to films prepared on unimplanted polycrystalline Si substrates. We found that minimal TiSi2resistivities were achieved at lower temperatures with preimplantation, indicating that the Xe‐implanted substrate promotes a lower temperature transition from the metastable C49 phase to the low‐resistivity equilibrium C54 phase of TiSi2. X‐ray diffraction results confirmed the lower temperature formation of the C54 phase with preimplantation. Low‐temperature annealing (650 °C, 30 min) of 6×1016cm−2, 240 keV Xe+‐implanted samples yielded low‐resistivity (∼22 &mgr;&OHgr; cm) silicide films, while simultaneously annealed samples without preimplantation had resistivity five times higher. Lower doses were effective at lower implant energies, with low resistivity achieved after 725 °C, 30 min annealing for 2×1015cm−2, 60 keV Xe+preimplantation.