**Abstract**

State-of-the-art experimental facility 200 kV ion accelerator, with energy range of 30–200 kV has been running successfully at Ion Beam Center, KUK. The versatility of this facility lies in providing single charge state and large area irradiation in a single step. In this regard, present work investigates the structural, optical, and electrical behavior of as-deposited and argon-sputtered SiC thin films at varying fluences keeping ion incidence at 500 . Raman measurements reveal that the opening of sp2 sites on a-C results in increased sp3 content in the surface layers. Both FWHM of G peak and I(D)/I(G) ratio decrease with increasing argon fluence. UV-Vis-NIR spectroscopy reveals an increase in the optical absorption and a shifting of absorption edge toward longer wavelengths. I-V characteristics reveal ohmic behavior of all the samples in the voltage range of −5 to +5 V. The conductivity of all the samples is found to decrease with increase in argon ion fluence. The observed structural transformations are attributed to the different degree of sputtering yield of silicon and carbon at different argon ion fluences.

**Keywords:** silicon carbide, ion irradiation, Raman spectroscopy, UV-Vis spectroscopy, I-V characteristics
