Some factors affecting EBSD pattern quality of Ga+ ion-milled face centred cubic metal surfaces

Using a DualBeam™ platform, it is possible to generate crystallographic volumes of microstructure by sequentially milling submicron slices of a material using the focused ion beam (FIB) and mapping each newly created surface using electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD). The present work describes the influence of some FIB milling parameters on the quality of EBSD patterns obtained on ion-milled surfaces of single crystals of face centred cubic metals: Al, Cu and Au. It was found that milling current (for a constant 30 kV FIB accelerating voltage) has a modest influence on EBSD pattern quality with the highest quality patterns obtained using a current of 1–3 nA. The effect of atomic number on EBSD pattern quality is considerable and discussed in terms of the interaction volumes generated in the sample by both Ga+ ions (FIB) and electrons (EBSD). This information was used successfully for generating 3D-EBSD micrographs of a partly recrystallized nickel sample.