A high defect density of hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) is one of the main reasons for a low efficiency of a-Si:H solar cells. An increase in defect density of conventional a-Si:H is brought about by light exposure (light induced degradation). In the present work we employed a multi-hollow discharge plasma chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method to control the stability of a-Si:H films. The films deposited in the downstream region and in the upstream region near the discharges of the multi-hollow discharge plasma CVD reactor show light induced degradation, while ones in the upstream region far from the discharges show no degradation. The deposition rate of the species generated in the discharges decreases with increasing the distance between the substrate and the discharge, according to their surface reaction probabilities and diffusion velocities.