A method of forming a film stack with reduced defects is provided and includes positioning a substrate on a substrate support within a processing chamber and sequentially depositing polysilicon layers and silicon oxide layers to produce the film stack on the substrate. The method also includes supplying a current of greater than 5 ampere (A) to a plasma profile modulator while generating a deposition plasma within the processing chamber, exposing the substrate to the deposition plasma while depositing the polysilicon layers and the silicon oxide layers, and maintaining the processing chamber at a pressure of greater than 2 Torr to about 100 Torr while depositing the polysilicon layers and the silicon oxide layers.