A 70 MHz Very High Frequency (VHF) Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition (PECVD) technique has been used to prepare i-layers for small area, single-junction a-Si:H and a-SiGe:H nip cells and triple-junction devices at deposition rates as high as 10 Å/s. For both the a-Si:H and a-SiGe:H single-junction cells under optimized deposition conditions, the efficiencies and the light stability remain relatively constant as the i-layer deposition rate is varied from 1 to 10 Å/s. Also the stable efficiencies for both types of cells are similar to those for similar cells made in the same deposition system at low deposition rates (1 Å/s) using the standard 13.56 MHz PECVD technique. Triple-junction a-Si:H/a-SiGe:H/a-SiGe:H cells have been fabricated using the VHF technique to prepare all of the i-layers at deposition rates near 10 Å/s. These devices have pre-light soaked active area efficiencies between 9.5 and 10&percent; and total area efficiencies between 9.0 and 9.5&percent;. Considering these results, the VHF method is a promising technique to increase the growth rate of i-layers for a-Si:H based devices, and when applied to the production of large area a-Si:H based multi-junction solar modules, it will allow for higher manufacturing throughput and reduced module cost. ©1999 American Institute of Physics.