A litter sifter and method for using. The methods include mixing a carbon-free silicon-containing precursor with a radical-nitrogen precursor, and depositing a silicon-and-nitrogen-containing layer on a substrate. The method includes the steps of selecting a candidate barcode character for decoding, computing a candidate distance value from the candidate barcode character to the seed codeword, identifying the bin containing the candidate distance value, and comparing the candidate barcode character with the valid barcode characters in the bin having the candidate distance value.