The structural and electrical properties of radio frequency (rf) sputtered hydrogenated amorphous silicon carbide films are presented in this paper. Films were prepared with sputtering pressurePsvaried from 0.8 to 3 Pa, or with substrate temperatureTsvaried from 100 to 300 °C. For films deposited with an argon plus hydrogen ambient, the deposition rate was found to increase with increase inPsand decrease with an increase inTs. For films prepared with an argon ambient only, the deposition rate increased slightly with an increase inPsorTs. The deposition rate was also approximately two to eight times higher when sputtering was carried out in an argon plus hydrogen ambient than in argon only. Infrared (IR), x‐ray photoelectron (XPS), and Raman spectroscopies were employed in the structural analysis. The IR results showed that the Si–C bond gave the most prominent absorption peak and was affected by changes inPs. The Si–H and SiHnstretching modes were observed in all films, and the amount of Si–H bondsNSi–Hwere found to increase asPsorTswas increased. The C–Hnstretching mode was absent in all films, and this was attributed to the low carbon content in these films.The Si–N stretching mode was suggested to contribute to the extra features between 800 to 1100 cm−1in the IR spectra for films prepared at a higherPs(3 Pa) orTs(300 °C). The stoichiometry of silicon carbide and the film composition were determined by the XPS method. The carbon content of silicon carbide was found to be similar to the target composition and varied only slightly with changes inPsorTs. The Raman spectra showed that only the C–C bond can be detected in all of the films. From the electrical measurements, the film’s conductivity was found to reduce from 4.21×10−9to 4.35×10−11&OHgr;−1 cm−1asPswas increased from 0.8 to 3 Pa; and decreased from 3.81×10−9to 1.31×10−8&OHgr;−1 cm−1whenTswas raised from 150 to 300 °C. The conductivity was found to be related toNSi–H, with higherNSi–Hresulting in lower conductivity. A comparison with data published in the literature suggested that rf sputtering technique was not effective in varying the carbon content in amorphous silicon carbide film. This technique, however, can be used to varyNSi–Hand thus change the structural and electrical properties of the sputtered films. ©1995 American Institute of Physics.