The stoichiometry of SiOx layers in SiOx/SiO2 Superlattice (SL) films grown by ion beam sputtering method was determined with in situ X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The effect of oxygen content on the photoluminescence (PL) properties was studied for the bulk-SiOx films and SiOx/SiO2 SLs. Maximum PL intensities were observed near x approximate to 1.6 and x approximate to 1.2 for the bulk-SiO, films and SiOx/SiO2 SLs, respectively. However, the dependence of PL intensity and energy on the film stoichiometry, when scaled for the overall film stoichiometry, was nearly the same for the bulk-SiOx films and SiOx/SiO2 SLs. This result indicates that the oxygen content is the main parameter to determine PL property of the SiOx/SiO2 SLs. (c) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.