We have found that the rate of deposition of Pb when fabricating thin film Al‐oxide‐Pb tunnel junctions has a small but reproducible effect on tunneling characteristics. Zero bias junction conductance is typically increased by a factor of 2 or more when the top electrode deposition rate is raised from 10 to 100 A˚/s. This change is associated principally with a reduction of the effective barrier height at the Pb interface.