Transmission Kikuchi Diffraction in the Scanning Electron Microscope: Orientation Mapping on the Nanoscale

摘要

By changing a setup and using electron transparent samples, hundreds of laboratories worldwide have access to a characterization technique that measures grain sizes and orientations in nanocrystalline materials. Electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) is one of the most established microanalytical techniques for characterizing microstructures of crystalline materials. EBSD application has grown dramatically since the first commercial systems became available in the early 1990s, as today most materials characterization laboratories have access to an EBSD system. Reasons for its popularity include speed, ease of use, and the extensive range of applications in which it can be used. The primary reason, however, is that EBSD provides unique information at an impressive spatial resolution. On a field emission gun scanning electron microscope (FEG-SEM), EBSD can measure phase and orientation from domains as small as 100 nm. The exact value depends on the material in question, but EBSD can effectively characterize materials with grain sizes in the sub-micrometer range.