Comment on Experimental evidence for semiconducting behavior of Si-XII

Ruffell et al. [Phys. Rev. B 83, 075316 (2011)] have reported that within residual nanoindentations in films of amorphous silicon both Si-III and Si-XII phases exist in the ratio of about 20:80. It is shown here that, in the light of the existing experimental evidence, the material within the residual indentations cannot have the Si-XII phase in it, and instead the material is almost 100% Si-III with possibly a very small fraction of the Si-I phase.