An improved material in the form of rare-earth borate, its precursor(s) and a luminophore made thereof is provided. The material is characterizable as comprising spherical, cubic or parallelepipedal particles having an average particle size not more than 10 &mgr;m, over a narrow particle size distribution (dispersion index not greater than 0.8). The material may comprise a rare earth element having that lacks luminescence in combination with a dopant.