The inorganic borate host phosphors YBO3:RE ion (RE=Eu3+,Tb3+) were synthesized by a novel solution combustion technique. The synthesis is based on the exothermic reaction between fuel (urea) and oxidizer (ammonium nitrate). The heat generated in the reaction was used for auto combustion of precursors. The photoluminescence properties and spectroscopic investigation of the phosphor powder samples were investigated under ultraviolet (UV) and vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) excitation. The phosphors YBO3:Eu3+ and YBO3:Tb3+ show strong absorption in the UV and VUV region and exhibit intense orange-red and green emission, respectively, when excited by 254nm UV and 147nm VUV radiation. The phosphor YBO3 doped with Eu3+ and Tb3+ could be an efficient VUV-excited phosphor for plasma display phosphors (PDP) applications.