Hydrogenated amorphous silicon carbide (a-SiC:H) him was deposited by using a combination of radio frequency plasma-enhanced chemical-vapour deposition (rf-PECVD) and heated filament techniques with an aim of benefiting from the advantages of both. The atomic hydrogen, produced via electron (emitted from the filament) impact dissociation of hydrogen and silane plays a significant role in improving the film properties. Also at the hot coil, efficient dissociation of methane molecules takes place. Thus, more carbon atoms are incorporated into the films in the favourable configurations and hence increasing the optical gap of the films. The deposition parameters were optimised to obtain wide band gap highly photosensitive films. The films were evaluated by dark and photoconductivity measurements (with light-induced degradation), absorption measurements in the visible region, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopic measurements X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy measurements and dual-beam photoconductivity measurements.