A round-robin characterization is reported on the sputter depth profiling of [60 x (3.0 nm Mo/0.3 nm B4C/3.7 nm Si)] and [60 x (3.5 nm Mo/3.5 nm Si)] stacks deposited on Si(111). Two different commercial secondary ion mass spectrometers with time-of-flight and magnetic-sector analyzers, a pulsed radio frequency glow discharge optical emission spectrometer, and a home-built time-of-flight low-energy ion scattering and quadrupole-based secondary ion mass spectrometer were used. The influence of the experimental conditions, especially the type and energy of sputter ions, on the depth profiles of Mo/Si nanostructures with and without B4C barrier layers is discussed in terms of depth resolution, modulation factor and rapidity of analysis. The pros and cons of each instrumental approach are summarized. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.