Hydrogenated microcrystalline silicon (mu c-Si:H) films prepared by using the hot-wire/catalytic chemical vapor deposition (HWCVD) technique at low substrate temperatures between 185 degrees C and 220 degrees C with different silane concentrations (SC) were investigated using steady state photocarrier grating (SSPG) and the steady-state photoconductivity methods (SSPC). Crystalline Volume fractions C obtained from Raman spectroscopy change from 0.22 to 0.77. The diffusion length (L-D) is measured at generation rates between G = 10(19) and 10(21) cm(-3) s(-1). L-D changes from 27 nm to 270 nm, with maximum values around SC = 5%. The dependence of L-D on SC is similar to that observed for similar quality microcrystalline silicon Films prepared using the VHF-PECVD technique. The grating quality factor, gamma(0), drops from about 0.9 to 0.5 after transition to the microcrystalline regime as indication of scattering from Surface patterns. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.