Formation of Schottky barrier contacts ton‐type &bgr;‐SiC(100) was systematically investigated for several metals with various physical and chemical properties. The metals (Pd, Au, Co, Ti, Ag, Tb, and Al) were deposited onto oxygen terminated (∼1 monolayer) surfaces. Metal/&bgr;‐SiC interface chemistry and Schottky barrier height &fgr;Bduring contact formation were obtained by x‐ray photoemission spectroscopy; the corresponding electrical properties of thick contacts were characterized by capacitance‐voltage and current‐voltage methods. The metal/&bgr;‐SiC interface is unreactive at room temperature. X‐ray photoemission spectroscopy and electrical measurements demonstrate that these metal contacts exhibit a wide range of &fgr;B, 0.95–0.16 eV; within this range an individual contact &fgr;Bvalue depends strongly on the metal work function in general accord with the Schottky–Mott limit.