Source point calibration from an arbitrary electron backscattering pattern

Precise knowledge of the position of the source point is a requirement if electron backscattering patterns (EBSPs) are to be used for crystal orientation measurements or other types of measurements which demand a geometrical analysis of the patterns. Today, possibly the most popular method for locating the source point is a computational technique which uses the positions of a number of indexed Kikuchi bands for calculating the coordinates of the point. A serious limitation of this calibration technique is, however, that the localized bands must first be indexed, which is difficult if the location of the source point is not known with reasonable precision.

This paper describes a new technique which determines the location of the source point from the positions of a number of bands in an arbitrary EBSP. Besides the positions of the Kikuchi bands, the only information which is required by this new calibration procedure is the same crystallographic information which is used for normal indexing of EBSPs. The procedure is shown to work successfully with patterns from a simple cubic crystal, as well as with patterns from an orthorhombic BiSCCO superconductor. In the former case, four bands are shown to be sufficient to ensure a unique determination of the source point, whereas five bands are required in the latter case. Once the bands have been localized, the time required for calculating the source point position is of the order of 1 min on a standard PC.