Investigation of the surface roughness of etched SiC films is of great importance when attempting to improve electrical properties of SiC active devices. The roughness of SiC etched in a C2F6/O-2 inductively coupled plasma has been examined as a function of process parameters. Experimental ranges of parameters that were varied include 600-900 W source power, 50-150 W bias power, 4-16 mTorr pressure, 0%-80% O-2 fraction, and 6-12 cm gap between the wafer and plasma source, respectively. Surface roughness was characterized using atomic force microscopy. dc bias voltage was correlated to the roughness. At medium parameter levels the roughness was reduced with an increase in source power while the roughness was increased with increasing bias power. With variations in pressure or O-2 fraction, the roughness varied nonlinearly. dc bias was strongly correlated to the roughness for variations in source power and bias power. Interestingly, the bias was inversely related to the roughness for variations in O-2 fraction and gap. Although the roughness was degraded consistently with an increase in the parameters at a low level, this was no longer observed at a high level. When the wafer was placed closer to the plasma source, the roughness was the most significantly varied with a reduction in pressure. At this reduced pressure, the roughness was drastically increased with a decrease in O-2 fraction. Meanwhile, the roughness was insensitive to the gap when varying process parameters from high to low levels. For the experimental ranges of concern, the mean roughness varied between 0.55 and 1.04 nm.