Virtual interface analysis (VIA) is applied to real time spectroscopic ellipsometry measurements taken during the growth of hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) thin films using various hydrogen dilutions of precursor gases and on different substrates during plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition. A procedure is developed for optimizing VIA model configurations by adjusting sampling depth into the film and the analyzed spectral range such that model fits with the lowest possible error function are achieved. The optimal VIA configurations are found to be different depending on hydrogen dilution, substrate composition, and instantaneous film thickness. A depth profile in the optical properties of the films is then extracted that results from a variation in an optical absorption broadening parameter in a parametric a-Si: H model as a function of film thickness during deposition. Previously identified relationships are used linking this broadening parameter to the overall shape of the optical properties. This parameter is observed to converge after about 2000-3000 angstrom of accumulated thickness in all layers, implying that similar order in the a-Si: H network can be reached after sufficient thicknesses. In the early stages of growth, however, significant variations in broadening resulting from substrate-and processinginduced order are detected and tracked as a function of bulk layer thickness yielding an optical property depth profile in the final film. The best results are achieved with the simplest film-on-substrate structures while limitations are identified in cases where films have been deposited on more complex substrate structures. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.