A hollow electrode enhanced radio frequency (rf) glow plasma excitation technique and its application to the chemical vapor deposition of microcrystalline silicon films have been studied. In this technique, the reactor has two types of hollow structure. One is a hollow counterelectrode, and the other serves as both a hollow counterelectrode and a hollow rf electrode. The application of these discharge types to semiconductor processing is studied in the case of plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition of hydrogenated microcrystalline silicon thin films. High crystallinity, photosensitivity and a maximum deposition rate of 6.0 nm/s can all be achieved at plasma excitation frequency of 13.56 MHz and substrate temperature of 300degreesC. Properties of these plasmas are investigated by observing the plasma emission pattern, optical emission spectrum analysis and electrical parameters of the rf electrode. It is found that the plasma technique using both types of hollow discharge not only results in higher intensity of SiH* and Halpha but also in much smaller self-bias voltage of the rf electrode. Faster processing of device grade hydrogenated microcrystalline silicon films can also be achieved under lower rf power compared to use of the hollow counterelectrode technique alone. (C) 2004 American Vacuum Society.