TOF SIMS induced artificial topographical effects on the Y2(Al,Ga)5O12:Tb3+ thin films deposited on Si substrates by the pulsed laser deposition technique

•Y3(Al,Ga)5O12:Tb3+ thin films were deposited by PLD on Si substrates.•Agglomerated particles were obtained both inside and on the thin film surfaces.•TOF-SIMS provided artificial topographic features in the 3D depth profiles. The presence of various types of particles on the surface of the pulsed laser deposited (PLD) thin films as well as the differences in the film structure, played an important role to induce artificial topographical effects on Y3(Al,Ga)5O12:Tb3+ PLD thin films deposited on Si substrates measured by time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectroscopy (TOF-SIMS). The two and three-dimensional (2D and 3D) images have been recorded in the positive ion mode. Analysis of the 3D images shows big agglomerated particles on the surface of the Si substrate that appears to be embedded in the substrate and the substrate appears to be on the same level as the particles. This phenomenon is due to the artificial topographic effects which are attributed to the experimental setup of the TOF-SIMS system.