Organosilicon thin films have been deposited using a remote plasma produced from an expanding thermal plasma. Hexamethyldisiloxane and oxygen have been used as precursor gases. It is shown that it is possible to deposit organosilicon thin films at high deposition rates (> 60 nm/s). The film refractive index (at 632.8 nm) is a result of the presence of voids and carbon in the film. Analysis of the deposited films by means of elastic recoil detection analysis and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy shows that the dissociation and deposition mechanism is complex. The deposited films contain carbon which is chemically bonded in a methyl configuration. From this fact the plasma gas phase chemistry and the surface chemistry have been hypothesized. The film deposition rate increases with a decrease in substrate temperature, which is highly beneficial for deposition of organosilicon thin films on substrate materials with low melting temperature. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.