Sputtered nickel Ohmic contacts have been successfully produced on 4H-SiC substrates. The (Ohmic) contact resistances are seen to improve from R-C=2.7x10(9)Omega, to R-C=4.56Omega after annealing at 1000degreesC in N-2 atmosphere. Schottky diodes were produced on the silicon carbide (SiC) surface after etching in an SF6/O-2 inductively coupled plasma (ICP) for 3 minutes at varying substrate bias voltages. The ideality factors of all diodes formed onto the etched surfaces increased in comparison to the control sample. The highest ideality factor was observed for the diodes produced after etching at -0V and -245V bias voltage. A two diode and resistor model was applied to the results which successfully accounted for the excess leakage paths.