Effect of high-temperature annealing on the optical and photoluminescence properties of nanocrystalline SiC films

► We prepared the as-grown and annealed nanocrystalline (nc) SiC films. ► We studied the optical and photoluminescence (PL) properties of the nc-SiC films. ► The boundary regions between the nanocrystals affect the properties of films. ► Three PL maxima absent in the as-grown films appeared in the annealed films. ► The intensity of the PL maxima has a nonlinear dependence on excitation power.