Rare earth ions (Eu3+, Ce3+ and Tb3+)-doped Y(3)Al(5-)xGa(x)O(12) (0 <= x <= 5) films Were deposited on quartz glass substrates by a simple Pechini sot-gel method. X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), thermogravimetric and differential thermal analysis (TG-DTA), atomic force microscopy, field-emission scanning electron microscope, photo luminescence spectra, and lifetimes were used to characterize the resulting films. The results of XRD indicated that the films began to crystallize at 900 degrees C and fully crystallized at 1000 degrees C. Both the results of FT-IR spectra and TG-DTA were in agreement with those of XRD. Uniform and crack-free films annealed at 1000 T were obtained with an average grain size of 480 nm, a root mean square roughness of 13 nm and a thickness of 287 M. The doped Ln(3+) ions showed their characteristic emission in crystalline Y3Al5-xGaxO12 films, i.e., Eu3+ D-5(0)-F-7(J) (J=1, 2, 3, 4), Ce3+ 5d-4f and Tb3+ D-5(3), F-7(4-)J (J=6, 5, 4, 3) emissions, respectively. The optimum doping concentrations of the Eu3+, Ce3+ and Tb3+ were determined to be 1.5, 1.0, and 4.0 mol% of Y3+ in Y3Al5O12 films, respectively. At the same time, the effects of the contents of Ga3+ (x) in Y3Al5-xGaxO12 films on the luminescence properties of Ln(3+) were also investigated. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V All rights reserved.