Ion plating techniques for the preparation of hydrogenated amorphous silicon thin films have been successfully developed. The technique involves essentially the evaporation of elemental silicon through a d.c. produced hydrogen plasma. In this way hydrogen has been successfully incorporated into amorphous silicon films in concentrations as high as 30 atomic percent. Infrared spectroscopy indicates the usual SiHx stretching mode at approximately 2000 cm−1. Further evidence for the bonding of hydrogen was obtained from ESR measurement of hydrogenated and unhydrogenated samples. The measured unpaired spin density was a factor of 25 less in the hydrogenated sample. The optical absorption edges of the hydrogenated films fell in the usual range between 1.7 and 1.9 eV. Electrical conductivity measurements indicated a substantial reduction in the density of defect states in the gap as expected. It was also shown that hydrogenated amorphous silicon prepared by ion-plating could be doped by co-evaporation of the dopant element during film deposition. Both co-evaporated phosphorous and co-evaporated bismuth have been found to substantially increase the dark conductivity of a-Si:H while shifting the Fermi level towards the conduction band edge. An x-ray method for estimating the density and hydrogen content of a-Si:H has been developed. The measurement of strain in a-Si:H thin films is discussed. (WHK).