Indexing Electron Backscatter Diffraction Patterns with a Refined Template Matching Approach

TL;DR

This paper introduces a refined template matching method for indexing electron backscatter diffraction patterns that improves speed and accuracy over traditional Hough transform techniques, enabling more detailed material analysis.

Contribution

The authors develop a new cross correlation function for template matching that reduces library size and accelerates pattern indexing, with additional refinement steps for orientation accuracy.

Findings

Comparable accuracy to Hough transform in pattern indexing

Significant speed improvements in pattern analysis

Enhanced orientation refinement capabilities

Abstract

Electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) is a well-established method of characterisation for crystalline materials. This technique can rapidly acquire and index diffraction patterns to provide phase and orientation information about the crystals on the material surface. The conventional analysis method uses signal processing based on a Hough/Radon transform to index each diffraction pattern. This method is limited to the analysis of simple geometric features and ignores subtle characteristics of diffraction patterns, such as variations in relative band intensities. A second method, developed to address the shortcomings of the Hough/Radon transform, is based on template matching of a test experimental pattern with a large library of potential patterns. In the present work, the template matching approach has been refined with a new cross correlation function that allows for a smaller library and enables a dramatic speed up in pattern indexing. Refinement of the indexed orientation is performed with a follow-up step to allow for small alterations to the best match from the library search. The orientation is further refined with rapid measurement of misorientation using whole pattern matching. The refined template matching approach is shown to be comparable in accuracy, precision and sensitivity to the Hough based method, even exceeding it in some cases, via the use of simulations and experimental data collected from a silicon single crystal and a deformed {\alpha}-iron sample. The drastic speed up and pattern refinement approaches should increase the widespread utility of pattern matching approaches.