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The authors describe hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) thin films deposited at growth rates of 1 to 30 A/s by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) from disilane source gas at 24 torr total pressure in a tubular reactor. The effects of substrate temperature and gas holding time (flow rate) on film growth rate and effluent gas composition were measured at temperatures ranging from 360{sup 0} to 485{sup 0}C and gas holding times from 3 to 62s. Effluent gases determined by gas chromatography included silane, disilane and other higher order silanes. A chemical reaction engineering model, based on a silylene (SiH/sub 2/) insertion gas phase reaction network and film growth from both SiH/sub 2/ and high molecular weight silicon species, Si/sub n/H/sub 2n/, was developed. The model predictions were in good agreement with experimentally determined growth rates and effluent gas compositions.