Determination of the sputtered depth in depth profiling with high accuracy is a difficult task in quantitative depth profiling. Usually, a linear interpolation is performed between two pionts, one corresponding to the unsputtered surface (zero sputtering time), and the other to the crater depth after sputtering (maximum sputtering time) or to a previously determined marker depth (interface, delta layer etc.).@footnote 1@ This simple two point method contains a principal uncertainty because of the generation of a native oxide layer when the sample is brought back to air. In addition, this method does not take into account a composition dependency of the sputtering rate, which is particularly important in interface profiling.@footnote 2@ Furthermore, the change of the sputtering rate caused by the initial build up of the collisional cascade, and by compound formation, e.g. in reactive ion sputtering, is neglected. Using multilayer interfaces as markers, depth profiling of multilayers can markedly reduce the initial transient effect. Comparison of profiling results on Ni/Cr, Ta/Si, SiO2/Ta2O5, and GaAs/AlAs multilayers show how preferential sputtering and compound formation influence the sputtering time/depth relation. In sputter depth profiling with AES, simultaneous recording of two signals of the same element with low and high electron energies, combined with quantitative evaluation of the intensity scale, can be used to inrinsically determine the depth scale. @FootnoteText@ @footnote 1@ ISO Technical Report 15969 to be published 2001 @footnote 2@ S. Hofmann, Sputter Depth Profile Analysis of Interfaces, Rep. Prog. Phys. 61 (1998) 827.