We have deposited hydrogenated microcrystalline silicon films by standard rf glow discharge plasma CVD technique using a mixture of SiF4, Ar and H-2 at low substrate temperatures. Although fully crystalline from the beginning of the growth, our films show a significant variation in the ratio of large (LG) and small grain (SG) with further growth, for any H, dilution case, though the trend changes for each case. The mean sizes of the LG and SG do not vary much with growth, but a marked variation occurs in the size of the conglomerate grains, as shown by atomic force microscopy (AFM) studies. Notably, a change in the H2 dilution is found to affect not only the film microstructure, but also the crystalline orientation. We have shown the lateral and longitudinal growth of conglomerate grains to be highly dependent on the crystalline orientation. In studying the effect of film growth on film roughness, we have observed a linear correlation between the rms roughness as measured by AFM and the top surface layer as measured by spectroscopic ellipsometry. We have also succeeded in elucidating the growth mechanisms involved, apropos of surface roughness findings. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.