Si nanocrystals have been prepared by hydrogenation and subsequent annealing of as-deposited amorphous Si layers on glass and Si substrates. The hydrogenation process has been performed at 350 degrees C under radio frequency hydrogen plasma. The nanocrystallites were processed by sequential reactive ion etching to allow light emission. Photoluminescence (PL) measurements demonstrate that the nanocrystallites emit light in the range of 500-570 nm. The evolution of nanocrystals has been studied using scanning electron microscopy, while atomic force microscopy and transmission electron microscopy have been utilized to examine the structure of the Si nanocrystals. Multilayer luminescent Si nanocrystals have been fabricated using alternating layers of Si nanocrystals and Si oxy-nitride. Bilayer structures have higher efficiency than a single layer structure, while multilayers with three layers of luminescent nanocrystals and above did not show a higher PL intensity. Transparent light emitting diodes have been realized based on multilayer luminescent Si nanocrystals that displayed bright emission which was visible to the naked eye in a bright room. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.