OIM allows researchers in materials science to obtain the full microstructural record of polycrystalline materials, linking thousands of crystal orientation measurements to specifically identified individual grains. By combining standard scanning electron microscopy with computer controlled positioning technology, thousands of orientation measurements can be made within minutes using electron backscattered diffraction techniques. The images are captured by a low-light video camera system integrated with the SEM, then fed to the EDAX workstation, where the images are processed and the appropriate data extracted.
Patented voting provides confidence index to help analyst evaluate indexing results.
Select several different areas on electron image to be mapped successively with no operator intervention. Individual areas in the batch may be skipped if desired. No other package offers as many ways to adjust the Hough Transform for increased data collection speeds and indexing accuracy. The resultant database of x-y coordinates and diffraction results are then available for processing according to the interests of the analyst. For example, color-coded maps can be produced to reveal grain or subgrain orientations, grain sizes and shapes, grain boundary character, and multiple phases.