Effect of microscopic parameters on EBSD spatial resolution

In this study, a quantitative approach is proposed to understand the effect of the accelerating voltage and the probe current on the physical resolution of EBSD. The accelerating voltage was varied from 5 to 30 kV and probe currents of 1, 10, and 40 nA were selected. The lateral, longitudinal, and depth resolutions at 10 kV and 1 nA were 34.5, 44.7, and 46 nm for copper, respectively. When the accelerating voltage was in the range of 5–20 kV, the ratio of the longitudinal to the lateral resolution was below the theoretical ratio of 2.9. Considering the channeling effect, the best physical depth resolution of 38 nm was achieved at 5 kV and 10 nA. The physical depth resolution in an EBSD measurement is much larger due to the channel effect than that obtained without considering this effect.