We propose a new approach to fabrication of hydrogenated amorphous silicon carbide (a-Si1-xCx:H) thin films for solar cells by the catalytic chemical vapor deposition (Cat-CVD) method using a carbon catalyzer, which is more stable than tungsten or tantalum. It was found that by using the carbon catalyzer, undoped and boron-doped a-Si1-xCx:H films were easily obtained from a SiH4, CH4 and B2H6 mixture without any change in the catalyzer surface, even after deposition for longer than 30 It. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.