Oxford Instruments Nanoanalysis, England, has launched Symmetry, which is said to have acquisition speed in excess of 3000 indexed patterns per second. The world’s first CMOS-based electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) detector, it reportedly provides up to an order of magnitude performance improvement on all samples.
This performance is enabled by optimized CMOS technology and revolutionary optics. The resulting combination of extreme sensitivity, fast frame rates, and high pattern resolution means that there is no compromise in data quality across all analytical applications. Even on challenging materials that previously required sensitive and relatively slow CCD cameras (below 100pps), Symmetry routinely achieves speeds in excess of 1000 pps.
“EBSD has become a vital tool for materials characteriation in this nanotechnology age, yet has been limited by relatively long acquisition times,” says Dr. Christian Lang, Oxford Instruments Nanoanalysis Marketing Director. “The sensitivity and speed of CMOS image sensors, already established in the astronomy and biomedical sectors, enable full materials characterization in minutes.”
According to Dr. Patrick Trimby, EBSD Product Manager at Oxford Instruments, “In my opinion, the age of the CCD detector in EBSD is over. The fact that we can collect and index low noise, high resolution diffraction patterns in sub-millisecond timeframes will open up a host of new application fields, such as in situ experiments and the study of bio- and nanocrystalline materials. The significant improvement in performance across all conditions means that this detector is suitable for all types of EBSD work.”
