Patent · US Expired

Method and apparatus for correcting magnetic field distortions in electron backscatter diffraction patterns obtained in an electron microscope

US6555817B1 · kind B1 · utility

6Cited by
14References
31Claims
0Family size

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Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateMay 17, 2000
Grant dateApr 29, 2003
Priority date
Expiry dateMay 17, 2020

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH01J37/222
  • WIPO fieldMeasurement
  • WIPO sectorInstruments

Abstract

A system and method for correcting automatically the distortions in electron background diffration (EBSD) patterns which result from magnetic fields produced by some scanning electron microscopes (SEMs) used for collecting such patterns from polycrystalline sample materials. The method may be implemented as a software program running on a computer which is part of a conventional system for obtaining and analyzing EBSD patterns to obtain crystallographic information about the sample material. The method includes a calibration procedure and a correction procedure. In the calibration procedure, a distorted EBSD pattern obtained from a calibration sample is displayed on an operator display and user interface. Using an input device, an operator defines segment endpoints along a Kikuchi band in the distorted EBSD pattern image. From the user defined segment endpoints, correction parameters are calculated based on a mathematical curve (e.g., cubic spline) fitting the endpoints. The correction parameters may also be corrected automatically, without user intervention. The correction parameters are saved and may be used to correct magnetic field distortions in all subsequent EBSD patterns ob…

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.