High-rate, low temperature deposition is an essential requirement for industrial fabrication technology to be suitable for the deposition of optical and protective coatings. High-density, low-pressure plasmas have received significant attention for such applications due to their ability to create large and controllable ion fluxes onto the substrate. In this study, the high-rate deposition of silica films from a silane and oxygen gas mixture in a high-density plasma system based on a matrix distributed electron cyclotron resonance (MDECR) plasma source is investigated using directional jet injection of undiluted silane. The influence of process parameters such as the microwave power, radio frequency biasing of the substrate holder, and gas flows on the OH content of the oxide films is studied using phase-modulated spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, and transmission measurements. The results of the measurements, taken at various points across the wafer, show a decrease in the thickness-normalized OH concentration in the areas of higher deposition rates. The corresponding gas phase composition is investigated using optical emission spectroscopy and compared to the FTIR, transmission and SE measurement results in order to validate our findings and ultimately optimize the deposition process. It is found that the primary silane flux onto the surface, which depends on the positioning of the jet injection point and gas flow rate, plays an important role not only on the deposition rate but also on the OH content of the films. The authors conclude that high-density plasma deposition systems such as the MDECR plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition system cannot be considered as well mixed for gases with dissociation products that have high sticking coefficients, contrary to the accepted paradigm. (c) 2008 American Vacuum Society.