A Routine to Determine the Shift of Kikuchi Bands in EBSD to Sub-pixel Resolution

Abstract

The long-term aim of our research is to detect and image dislocations in the SEM with EBSD. We will apply it first to the characterization of threading dislocations in Si/Si-Ge structures. As an initial step, we set out to detect the shift of the Kikuchi bands in EBSD patterns to sub-pixel precision.In the standard analysis of EBSD patterns, to find the positions of Kikuchi bands, it is usual to use the Hough transform. This transform displays the intensity along all lines in the EBSD pattern, as a function of the position and the angle of the line. Thus linear features in the pattern (Figure 1) appears as peaks in the transform (Figure 2a). in normal EBSD analysis, the aim is to determine the orientation of the grain to a precision of perhaps a degree or two. Therefore, many simplifications are made in the software with the aim of gaining speed.