Bruker Nano Analytics, Hartford, Conn., has introduced ESPRIT DynamicS, a highly sophisticated and powerful software tool for the most realistic, high-resolution simulation of electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) patterns. EBSD relies on the analysis of Kikuchi electron diffraction patterns, which are obtained from microscopic regions of a sample in a scanning electron microscope. The software is the first commercially available software to calculate Kikuchi patterns utilizing the dynamic theory of electron diffraction.
The dynamic theory of electron diffraction takes all physical effects and parameters of the pattern generation into account, such as the values of the lattice parameters, the electron beam energy, the symmetry and chemical composition of the crystal structure, etc. Based on a revolutionary software engine, the program makes full use of available computing power to provide high-resolution simulations with a wealth of detail in a very short time.
As a result, ESPRIT DynamicS enables all users of EBSD systems, irrespective of the brand, to easily simulate most realistic Kikuchi patterns as a matter of routine. The program not only supports exact crystal orientation analysis and accurate phase identification, but also is a very useful tool to optimize system calibration and to simulate details that are unobtainable with other approaches, such as higher order Laue zones, (HOLZ) rings, or patterns of non-centrosymmetric crystals.
The software supports the import of crystallographic phase definitions in various formats, e.g. ESPRIT XML phase list files, crystallographic information files (CIF), or PowderCell files (CEL). Arbitrary EBSD patterns can be imported in common graphics formats. Simulation results are stored in form of a master file describing the complete diffraction data for a specific phase, facilitating the subsequent real-time projection and rotation of the simulated data.
