We investigated the dependence of hydrogenated boron-doped nanocrystalline silicon-carbide (p-nc-SiC:H) film characteristics against the substrate temperature (T-sub) by the transmission electron micrograph, Raman spectrum, and dark conductivity measurements. High quality of nanocrystalline growth at the low temperature of 120degreesC shows that the mercury-sensitized photo-assisted chemical vapor deposition (photo-CVD) technique is promising for a low-temperature fabrication of thin film solar cells onto flexible plastic substrates. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.