The Stutzmann, Jackson, and Tsai model [Phys. Rev. B32, 23 (1985)] for the creation of metastable defects in illuminateda‐Si:H by tail‐to‐tail recombination of electrons and holes and conversion of weak bonding and antibonding orbitals into dangling bonds has been extended to include the exponential nature of tail states and saturation of dangling bond density. A first‐order approximation of the general result gives a stretched exponential formula similar to that of Redfield and Bube [Appl. Phys. Lett.54, 1037 (1989)] removing an apparent contradiction between the two models. The theory is also extended to include the thermal annealing process. This gives an apparent saturation of dangling bond density at a steady state equilibrium valueNmwhich tends to the actual saturation valueNsas the intensity of illumination is increased.