Effects of accelerating voltage and specimen thickness on the spatial resolution of transmission electron backscatter diffraction in Cu

Highlights: • A quantitative approach is proposed to measure spatial resolutions of t-EBSD. • Increasing accelerating voltage enhances the lateral and longitudinal resolutions. • Decreasing thickness improves the lateral and longitudinal resolutions. • The depth resolution is 34.4 nm for a 100 nm sample thickness at 25 kV. - Abstract: A quantitative approach was proposed to determine the spatial resolution of transmission electron backscatter diffraction (t-EBSD) and to understand the limits of spatial resolution of t-EBSD. In this approach, Cu bicrystals and digital image correlation were employed. The effects of accelerating voltage and specimen thickness on the spatial resolution of t-EBSD were also investigated. t-EBSD specimens with 8 μm × 10 μm dimensions and different thicknesses were prepared using focused ion beam milling. The optimized quality of Kikuchi pattern was achieved at a working distance of 12 mm and a tilting angle of 20°. The optimum depth resolution of 34.4 nm was observed in the lower surface of a 100 nm thick sample at 25 kV. Thus, the penetration depth from the upper surface is 65.6 nm. The optimum lateral and longitudinal resolutions obtained from a 100 nm thick sample at 30 kV are 25.2 and 43.4 nm, respectively. The spatial resolution of t-EBSD can be enhanced by increasing the accelerating voltage and decreasing the sample thickness.