In this paper we report quantitative measurements of the imaging performance for the current generation of hybrid pixel detector, Medipix3, used as a direct electron detector. We have measured the modulation transfer function and detective quantum efficiency at beam energies of 60 and 80keV. In single pixel mode, energy threshold values can be chosen to maximize either the modulation transfer function or the detective quantum efficiency, obtaining values near to, or exceeding those for a theoretical detector with square pixels. The Medipix3 charge summing mode delivers simultaneous, high values of both modulation transfer function and detective quantum efficiency. We have also characterized the detector response to single electron events and describe an empirical model that predicts the detector modulation transfer function and detective quantum efficiency based on energy threshold. Exemplifying our findings we demonstrate the Medipix3 imaging performance recording a fully exposed electron diffraction pattern at 24-bit depth together with images in single pixel and charge summing modes. Our findings highlight that for transmission electron microscopy performed at low energies (energies <100keV) thick hybrid pixel detectors provide an advantageous architecture for direct electron imaging.
We report the first use of direct detection for recording electron backscatter diffraction patterns. We demonstrate the following advantages of direct detection: the resolution in the patterns is such that higher order features are visible; patterns can be recorded at beam energies below those at which conventional detectors usefully operate; high precision in cross-correlation based pattern shift measurements needed for high resolution electron backscatter diffraction strain mapping can be obtained. We also show that the physics underlying direct detection is sufficiently well understood at low primary electron energies such that simulated patterns can be generated to verify our experimental data. DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.111.065506 PACS numbers: 61.05.JÀ, 07.78.+s, 68.37.Hk Electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) is a scanning electron microscope (SEM) based method in which diffraction of low-energy-loss electrons as they exit through the topmost few tens of nanometers leads to Kikuchi diffraction. In most EBSD studies the incident electron beam is stepped across a grid of points on the sample surface and the EBSD patterns analyzed in an automated way to determine crystal phase, orientation, or lattice strain variation. The EBSD method has evolved rapidly over the last two decades [1][2][3][4][5]. Most research has been directed to the application of this versatile tool to an ever increasing array of problems in materials characterization but the analysis methods themselves have also advanced, notably in three dimensional imaging using focused ion beam (FIB)-SEM [6-9] and in strain mapping [10][11][12][13][14]. However, the detector technology used to record EBSD patterns has essentially remained unchanged for over a decade and now limits performance in several application areas, such as strain resolution and low dose mapping, and prevents the development of new areas.The earliest EBSD patterns were recorded on film either exposed directly to the electrons in the chamber [15][16][17], or indirectly imaging a phosphor screen using a camera outside the vacuum [18]. Subsequently, these were replaced by various image intensified cameras giving the convenience of a live image of the pattern at the scintillator but with degraded pattern quality compared to that recorded using film [19]. Subsequently, scintillator coupled CCDs were introduced in the early 1990s [20,21]. In a limited number of examples tapered fiber-optic bundles have been used to couple the CCD to the scintillator with good results [20] but the alternative optical lens coupling has been adopted in the vast majority (> 95%) of instruments currently in use. Departures from these detection schemes have included an investigation of microchannel plates [22] and the adoption of a retarding electrostatic field for energy filtering [23].In other fields there have been significant advances in detectors directly exposed to the imaging beam for the detection of x rays [24,25] and medium energy electrons [26][27][28][29]. The current development of TEM instr...
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