Advances in TEM orientation microscopy by combination of dark-field conical scanning and improved image matching

A new approach to automatic TEM‐based orientation microscopy is presented, which is based on a combination of the techniques of dark-field conical scanning and improved image matching, and a diffraction pattern simulation method. For indexing, a full experimental diffraction pattern is compared to all possible pre-calculated diffraction patterns for the given structure by image matching. In order to speed up this relatively calculation-intensive algorithm, polar transformation and, most important, circular projection that increase the speed of pattern indexing by a factor of about 50 are proposed. A microstructure of submicron scale and crystallographic orientations in nanocrystalline materials are measured successfully. It is proposed that the taken approach of dark-field conical scanning and improved image matching may be, in principle, better suited for TEM-based orientation microscopy than serial orientation mapping.