The hydrogenated silicon nitride films (SiN(x):H) deposited by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) technique is commonly used as an antireflection coating as well as surface passivating layer of crystalline silicon solar cells. The refractive indices of SiNx:H films could be changed by varying the growth gas ratio R(=NH(3)/SiH(4)+NH(3)) and annealing temperature. For optimum SiN(x):H film, the optical and chemical characterization tools by varying the film deposition and annealing condition were employed in this study. Metal-insulator-semiconductor (MIS) devices were fabricated using SiN(x):H as an insulator layer and they were subjected to capacitance-voltage (C-V) and current-voltage (I-V) measurements for electrical characterization. The effect of rapid thermal annealing (RTA) on the surface passivation as well as antireflection properties of the SiN(x):H films deposited at various process conditions were also investigated for the fabrication of low cost and high efficiency silicon solar cells. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.