Polycrystalline silicon films for solar cells grown by atmospheric pressure chemical vapour deposition require hydrogenation to passivate defects at grain boundaries. Passivation by remote plasma hydrogenation of 12-mu m-thick poly-Si films increased Hall effect carrier mobility from 3 to 20 cm(2)/Vs, photoluminescence intensity at 0.98 eV band more than 2 times and decreased contrast of local electronic conductivity between grains, observed by combined AFM. However, excessive hydrogenation led to surface damage and defect creation evidenced by widths of Raman LO-TO peak at 520 cm(-1) and X-ray rocking curve of (220) diffraction line. Depth profile by repeated etching of the surface and following the signature of Si-H-2 and H-2 bonding in Raman spectra showed that the damage extended up to 100 nm from the surface. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.