We proposed an electronic cyclotron resonance (ECR) microwave hydrogen plasma pretreatment (HPT) for moderately doped (1 x 10(18) cm(-3)) SiC surfaces and formed ideal TiC/SiC Ohmic contacts with significantly low contact resistivity (1.5 x 10(-5) Omega cm(2)) after low-temperature annealing (600 degrees C). This is achieved by reducing barrier height at TiC/SiC interface because of the release of pinned Fermi level by surface flattening and SiC surface states reduction after HPT, as well as the generation of donor-type carbon vacancies, which reduced the depletion-layer width for electron tunneling after annealing. Interface band structures were analyzed to elucidate the mechanism of Ohmic contact formations. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.