Double barrier resonant tunnelling structures consisting of silicon quantum dots (QDs) in silicon dioxide (SiO(2)) matrix have been studied for Energy Selective Contacts for Hot Carrier solar cell. A single layer of silicon QDs has been fabricated by high temperature annealing of SiO(2)/Si-rich oxide (SRO)/SiO(2) layers deposited by RF magnetron sputtering. Compositional analysis of SRO films obtained with different sputtering target has been accurately measured with Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy. Size-controlled growth of Si QDs has been studied with photoluminescence measurements which demonstrate that QD sizes can be controlled with SRO layer thickness. In addition, resonant tunnelling behaviour of SiO(2)/Si QD/SiO(2) structures has been investigated. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.