A new type of hydrogenated nanocrystalline Si film with high electronic conductivity is investigated by means of transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM). Nearly parallel columnar structures with growth orientation along the [110] zone axis of Si are found from cross‐sectional TEM images of the film. HRTEM observation reveals that these columns are composed of nanocrystallites (3–6 nm size) and dendritelike growth morphology, while in the region between columns the texture consists of smaller sized (<3 nm) grains embedded in a hydrogenated amorphous Si. The volume fraction of the crystalline component is about 58% measured by Raman spectroscopy. The conductivity of the film is very high, about 10−1(&OHgr; cm)−1. It is considered that this is directly related to the characteristic structure of the film. ©1995 American Institute of Physics.