To reduce the manufacturing cost of amorphous silicon (a-Si:H)-based photovoltaic devices, it is important to deposit high-quality a-SM and related materials at a high deposition rate. To this end, we designed and constructed a hot-wire deposition chamber with a coiled filament design and with multiple gas inlets. The process gas could be directed into the chamber through the filament coil and have maximum exposure to the high-temperature filament surface. Using such a chamber design, we deposited a-SM films at high deposition rates up to 800 Angstrom s(-1) and dense, low-void a-SM at rates up to 240 Angstrom s(-1). (C) 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.