Dear EBSD/SEM community,
I could very much use your help with regard to a problem that I have:
I am trying to record EBSD patterns while I work in immersion mode (FEI Nova Nanolab), hence with a magnetic field extending to the sample. I do agree that making EBSD compatible with immersion does not seem like a top priority, since there is usually no point in having a 1-2nm probe size when the interaction volume is 50-100nm-ish anyway. However, (at least) two techniques could very much benefit from this compatibility, Transmission Kikuchi Diffraction, clearly, but also a technique that I recently developed (1).
I read in the litterature (there is not much on it though), that the pattern get distorted + shifted, which can be corrected (2).
I would already be very happy with distorted patterns, that would be a start, but for some reason I don’t get any…
Accroding to the pattern without background substraction (see slide enclosed), it seems that just no BSE electrons reach the detector. My guess is that the magnetic field is too strong, and that most BSE are “spiraled away” from the detector.
Does any of you have any advice/experience/insight on this compatibility? Or a test that can be conducted?
Thank you for your time!
Etienne Brodu
(1) Brodu et al., Determination of the structure and orientation of nanometer-sized precipitates in matrix materials via transmission diffraction signals emitted by bulk samples in the Scanning Electron Microscope, 2020
(2) Chou et al., A Method for the Correction of EBSPs Distorted by Lens Magnetic Fields, 2013