Electron Backscatter Diffraction (EBSD)
Many five-fold branched Si particles were observed in Al-40wt%Si functionally graded materials produced by a single step laser process on a cast Al-alloy substrate. Microstructural features of the silicon particles were investigated using OIM. The OIM results show that the 7.5° mismatch that arises when arranging five tetrahedrons around a common <110> axis is accommodated by small-angle grain boundaries (SAGBs). The mismatch is most frequently accommodated by multiple SAGBs as opposed to a single SAGB.
Y. T. Pei and J. T. M. De Hosson (2001). "Five-fold branched Si particles in laser clad AlSi functionally graded materials." Acta Materialia 49: 561-571.
20 mm
The growth of Si facet dendrites was investigated by EBSD and AFM. Dendrites were found with <211>, <110> and <100> growth directions. A <110> type is shown here. The <211> and <110> type dendrites were found to be bounded by atomically smooth {111} planes. The <100> types were found to be free of twins and bounded by atomically rough {111} and {100} planes. Such information provides insight into the effects of undercooling on dendrite formation.
K. Nagashio and K. Kuribayashi (2005). "Growth mechanism of twin-related and twin-free facet Si dendrites." Acta Materialia 53: 3021-3029.
A polysilicon sample collected at 650 indexed points per second
EBSD patterns from a silicon calibration standard without (left) and with (right) magnetic field
Normal (left) and distorted (middle) EBSD patterns showing matching features and vector field (right) derived from identified features
Distorted pattern (left) and the corresponding corrected pattern (right)
Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS)
Overlay X-ray map showing the mineral distribution of a granite sample.
Benitoite spectra identified using a rules-base algorithm (left) and EDAX’s EXpert ID (right). As shown by the Halographic Peak Deconvolution analysis (black outline), only EXpert ID correctly identified the Ti/Ba overlap.
Micro X-ray Fluorescence (Micro-XRF)
Spectral map data set of granite sample generated by Micro-XRF showing each of the following images.
Video
X-ray count map
Elemental overlay
Wavelength Dispersive Spectrometry (WDS)
Overlap of Silicon K and Tungsten M lines are easily resolved using WDS (red spectrum) instead of EDS (black spectrum).
Silicon Overlaps in Semiconductor Samples
Many structures and defects in semiconductors contain refractory metals. Identification would be simple if analyses were performed at high beam energies, but spatial resolution preferences restrict analyses to low beam energies. At these energies, only M-line X-rays are generated and many of these overlap with the substrate Si-K X-rays, like Ta-M and W-M. The peaks in the EDS spectra (green) are slightly broader and mask the presence of the impurity. Only by using the WDS (red) can the elements be uniquely discovered and identified.