Electron Backscatter Diffraction (EBSD) is a powerful tool for mapping crystal grain orientations, but its effectiveness is often limited by material properties; challenging factors such as beam sensitivity, charge sensitivity, low crystal symmetry, and fine grain size are especially pronounced in ceramics like hafnia and hafnon.

Using SEMCam, researchers successfully recorded high-quality EBSD patterns at low beam energies and doses—overcoming the common limitations of conventional setups. By pairing these patterns with the dictionary indexing technique, they achieved a major milestone: the first-ever EBSD orientation maps of hafnia and hafnon grains. This breakthrough opens the door to applying similar methods to other low-symmetry or beam-sensitive materials, expanding the boundaries of what EBSD can reveal.

Direct electron detection for EBSD of low symmetry & beam sensitive ceramics,
N.M. Della Ventura et al. Ultramicroscopy, 268, 114079 (2025)

Read the abstract here: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S030439912400158X