@ Faisal Mohammed

EBSD analysis associated with FESEM or SEM characteristics. For non-conducting samples, it is advised to use conducting coating prior to the SEM-related study to avoid the electron cloud and the EBSD (for microstructural characterization) is basically concerned with the crystallographic nature of the samples. Please check the following literature to give more insight knowledge on the same:

EBSD Sample Preparation: Techniques, Tips, and Tricks DOI: 10.1017/S143192760550672X

Faisal Mohammed,

Thanks for your question. Interference of the carbon (or any other element i.e. gold, titanium, etc.) coating with the EBSD pattern is directly affected by the coating thickness. EBSD is extremely surface sensitive due to geometry, i.e. the tilt and orientation of the camera to the sample. If your coating is too thick and distorts the backscattered electrons, then your Kikuchi pattern will be distorted. Another consideration is if the coating is crystallized carbon (graphite or other polymorphs) by overheating during the coating process, creating signal from the crystallized coating. This is fairly uncommon, although it may occur if you are new to coating samples or have a new coating instrument, as you need to dial in certain parameters.

Good luck!

Faisal Mohammed

Yes, you can use conductive coating (carbon, or gold, etc.) on EBSD samples. However, the coating should be kept very thin (typically 2-5nm). Thick coatings can lead to low signal to noise ratio and eventually lead to very poor EBSD results. Here are some tips on working with non-conductive samples from Oxford Instruments:

https://www.ebsd.com/hints-tips-for-ebsd-data-collection/ebsd-sample-preparation/preventing-charging-coating