The three scanning electron microscope diffraction based techniques of electron channelling patterns (ECPs), electron channelling contrast imaging (ECCI), and electron back scatter diffraction (EBSD) are reviewed.The dynamical diffraction theory is used to describe the physics of electron channelling, and hence the contrast observed in ECPs (and EBSD) and ECCI images of dislocations. Models for calculating channelling contrast are described and their limitations discussed. The practicalities of the experimental methods, including detector-specimen configurations, spatial resolution and sensitivities are given. Examples are given of the use of ECCI for imaging and characterising lattice defects, both individually and in groups, in semiconductor heterostructures and fatigued metals. Applications of the EBSD technique to orientation determination, phase identification and strain measurement are given and compared with use of ECPs.. It is concluded that these techniques make the SEM a powerful instrument for characterising the local crystallography of bulk materials at the mesoscopic scale.

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