Dr. René de Kloe, Applications Specialist, EDAX

While I am testing new hardware and software versions, I use it as an opportunity to collect some data on unique materials. Testing detector speed or general software functionality is easiest on a simple material like an undeformed Ni or Fe alloy. But, I think it is a shame to perform longer duration tests on materials I have already seen many times before. For such occasions, I look through my collection of materials for something nice to map. During testing of the upcoming APEX™ 2.0 EBSD software, I collected a few larger scans on fossils that I had found during geological fieldwork and family holidays. This included large single-field scans and a Montage map, where we combine beam scans with stage movements for a large mosaic map.

For example, Figure 1a shows a cross-section through a fossil crinoid stem. At the edge, the lighter areas represent the structure of the organism, while the darker areas are later sedimentary infill.

This is beautifully visible in the 2.1 x 1.7 mm IPF on PRIAS™ center map, where the biomineral structure appears smooth and fine-grained. In contrast, the infill is more equiaxed and shows topography due to compositional differences (Figure 1b).

Another beautiful scan was collected while I was trying out the new APEX™ 2.0 EBSD Montage map wizard. This wizard allows easy pre-imaging of the entire scan field to set the actual scan area. With the wizard, setting up such a large, 18 million point, 30-field Montage map over a 1.3 x 7 mm area can be done in a few minutes.

We collected these two scans on calcite rocks for which you can simply load the appropriate crystal structure. But collecting data is not always that easy, especially if you are not sure what phase(s) you have in your sample. And ultimately, EBSD data collection is based on pattern analysis and then matching the detected bands against a lookup table. In most cases, you can just search the included EDAX structure file database that contains close to 500 phases and covers most commonly studied materials, such as the calcite used for the scans above.

But where do these files come from? Partly, they are a result of our combined legacy. Over the years, we have seen many materials and often painstakingly identified which bands to select to get reliable indexing results. Nowadays, you can create phase files directly using atomic and crystallographic information. However, you can continue to extract the majority of “new” phase files from XRD databases, such as the AMCS, ICSD, or ICDD PDF databases. These databases contain 10’s to sometimes 100’s of thousands of phase descriptions that are based on XRD measurements. The XRD data shows which lattice planes are effective X-ray diffractors, and are also useful to construct a structure file for electron diffraction patterns.

And there the fun starts. Often there are multiple possibilities for phases or minerals (e.g., solid solution series) available in the database. Which one to select? And in many cases, there is no single-phase file that matches the pattern exactly. There are always bands that do not get labeled or are shown in the overlay that are not visible in the real pattern. This is due to the differences between X-ray and electron diffraction intensities or simply incomplete database entries. Time for some human intervention. The APEX™ EBSD software contains advanced tools to modify and optimize the reflector tables of imported or calculated structure files. First, the color-coding itself. All bands are labeled with a color that corresponds to the IPF color triangle, so equivalent lattice planes get identical colors. This allows a visual inspection if bands that are designated with the same color also appear identical.

Then there is a band ID tool to help identify non-labeled bands in the diffraction patterns. When a pattern appears correctly indexed, but a number of bands are not labeled, the user can draw a line on the missing band. The software then shows which lattice plane corresponds to that band and also indicates all crystallographic equivalent planes. When it is still difficult to identify the correct indexing solution, it can be beneficial to bypass the Hough band detection and instead manually draw the bands for indexing. A good trick for low symmetry crystals is only to select the thinnest bands. These correspond to the lattice planes with the largest d-spacings and should be the important low-index crystallographic planes. By excluding the (often) large number of bands with similar bandwidths, you reduce the number of options and more quickly land at the best matching orientation or phase.

When a solution is found that matches the thin bands, you can start drawing in the other ones. When drawing a band, the software automatically shows where all the crystallographic equivalent planes should be. If a line is drawn where no band is present, you have the wrong candidate, and you need to look further. If all the indicated bands match in appearance and width, you can enable the reflector. This way, it is easy to interactively generate a matching phase file. Just keep in mind that when you have optimized a structure file to a pattern, it is a good idea to find some more patterns from that phase (if necessary, just rotate the sample to get a different orientation) and verify that all the bands in the other patterns are also properly identified. This is especially important for low symmetry materials where few lattice planes are equivalent.

Although it can be rewarding to identify a new phase and optimize the structure file to allow for EBSD mapping of a new and interesting material, I would like to end with a word of warning. When you are working with a good pattern and successfully identify the phase and orientation, it is very tempting to keep looking for bands and completely fill the pattern with everything you can see. But that is often a bad idea, as the weaker bands will typically not get selected by the Hough transformation on the poorer patterns that are used during indexing. Enjoy playing with the materials and structure files, but don’t overdo it.