Microcrystalline silicon (μc-Si:H) solar cells were prepared in a wide range of deposition parameters using high pressure 13.56 MHz plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD). Focus was on the influence of deposition pressure, electrode distance and the application of a pulsed plasma on high rate deposition of solar cells. At electrode distances between 5 and 20 mm solar cells with efficiencies ≥8% were prepared. A medium electrode distance of 10 mm yielded best device performance. Pulsed plasma deposition leads to good results at medium deposition rates of ∼5 Å/s, for higher rates a strong decrease of efficiency was observed. The highest efficiencies in a small area reactor were 8.9% for CW and 8.4% for pulsed plasma. We also succeeded in preparing μc-Si:H and a-Si:H/μc-Si:H solar cells in a 30×30 cm2 reactor with efficiencies of 9% and 12.5%, respectively.