Abstract: The installation includes a plasma chamber containing two electrodes connected to a high-frequency generator, the substrate being mounted on one of the electrodes. A gas containing at least one silicon compound is introduced into the chamber and a plasma is created by a radiofrequency between the electrodes. The invention aims to obtain a high rate of deposition of amorphous semiconducting silicon on the substrate, at the same time as a small number of defects in the deposited film. This objective is achieved by selecting, for the ratio f/d between the frequency and the distance separating the electrodes, an optimum value included between 30 and 100 MHz/cm, the frequency being included between 25 and 150 MHz. For the optimum frequency, the deposition rate is a maximum and the number of defects is a minimum. This process may be utilized for the deposition of amorphous hydrogenated silicon or an alloy thereof from different gases or gas mixtures, and also for producing doped layers.