A 13.56 MHz parallel plate hydrogen-diluted silane plasma, operated at high pressure and high power, was used to deposit microcrystalline silicon solar cells with efficiencies of 6-9% at high deposition rates of 0.4-1.2 nm/s. In this regime new challenges arise regarding temperature control, since the high plasma power causes the substrate to heat up significantly during film deposition. We investigated this effect of plasma-induced substrate heating experimentally by means of pyrometric substrate temperature measurements and spectroscopic gas temperature measurements. The substrate temperature was observed to increase by up to 100 K during film deposition, depending on power density and deposition time. Performance of deposited solar cells decreased whenever the plasma induced heating caused a drift outside the ideal temperature window, of around 475 K (∼200 °C). Further analysis related this decrease in performance to the substrate temperature's influence on film crystallinity and open circuit voltage. © 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.