Nanometres‐resolution Kikuchi patterns from materials science specimens with transmission electron forward scatter diffraction in the scanning electron microscope

• Published in: Journal of microscopy (Oxford) Vol. 250; no. 1; pp. 1 - 14
• Main Authors: BRODUSCH, N., DEMERS, H., GAUVIN, R.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.04.2013; Wiley Subscription Services, Inc
• Subjects: Charge coupled devices; Diffraction; Diffraction patterns; Electron back scatter diffraction; Electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD); Electron microscopes; Mineralogy; nanodiffraction; Nanostructure; Orientation; Scanning electron microscopy; scanning electron microscopy (SEM); scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM); Scatter; transmission electron forward scatter diffraction (t‐EFSD); transmission Kikuchi diffraction (TKD)
• ISSN: 0022-2720; 1365-2818
• DOI: 10.1111/jmi.12007

Summary A charge‐coupled device camera of an electron backscattered diffraction system in a scanning electron microscope was positioned below a thin specimen and transmission Kikuchi patterns were collected. Contrary to electron backscattered diffraction, transmission electron forward scatter diffraction provides phase identification and orientation mapping at the nanoscale. The minimum Pd particle size for which a Kikuchi diffraction pattern was detected and indexed reliably was 5.6 nm. An orientation mapping resolution of 5 nm was measured at 30 kV. The resolution obtained with transmission electron forward scatter diffraction was of the same order of magnitude than that reported in electron nanodiffraction in the transmission electron microscope. An energy dispersive spectrometer X‐ray map and a transmission electron forward scatter diffraction orientation map were acquired simultaneously. The high‐resolution chemical, phase and orientation maps provided at once information on the chemical form, orientation and coherency of precipitates in an aluminium–lithium 2099 alloy.