The light‐induced degradation of the dark conductivity and photoconductivity (the Staebler‐Wronski effect) is reduced in r.f. sputter deposited hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a‐Si:H) when the r.f. power employed during deposition is increased. The high r.f. power samples display a photo to dark conductivity ratio of 103when illuminated with 100 mW/cm2of heat‐filtered white light, with a measured photoconductivity ≳7×10−5(ohm cm)−1.