TexSEM Laboratories, Inc.

TexSEM Laboratories, Inc. (TSL) has developed Orientation Imaging Microscopy (OIM), a new analytical technique permitting researchers to obtain, for the first time, the full microstructural record of polycrystalline materials.
The power of OIM lies in allowing materials scientists to perform unprecedented crystallographic characterization of microstructures, linking thousands of crystal lattice orientation measurements to specifically identified points in the microstructure. Additionally, it employs powerful and versatile image processing capabilities to allow visualization of the microstructure according to the interests of the scientist.
OIM utilizes high resolution video camera technology integrated with a scanning electron microscope to capture electron backscattered patterns in real time. These images are enhanced, passed to a Windows personal computer or a Unix-based workstation and processed by sophisticated crystallographic software. The output is a database of x-y coordinates, local lattice orientation, and image quality measurements which can be correlated with strain. By varying the resolution, from one to thousands of intragranular measurements can be obtained, depending on the research objectives.
With the OIM system's image processing capabilities, a variety of orientation imaging micrographs can be created from the database, highlighting features of importance to the researcher, whether it be individual grains of a particular orientation, grain boundaries with a specific misorientation, intragranular strain, or any of a number of other areas of interest.
TSL offers both systems and analytical services based upon OIM technology.

"The breakthrough of Orientation Imaging Microscopy is the ability to make thousands of individual orientation measurement within minutes and correlate those measurements with the individual grains."

OIM-1.jpg (61K)

Pole-1.jpg (30K)
The red/green/yellow image is an Orientation Imaging Micrograph or OIM of the surface of an aluminum thin film deposited by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) over titanium and titanium nitride layers on a silicon single crystal substrate. The OIM was created using approximately 11,000 orientation measurements taken over a regular hexagonal grid in steps of 0.4 microns. The grains in the image have been shaded according to crystallite lattice orientation. The yellow, green and red colors correspond to orientations along the [111] fiber within five, ten and fifteen degrees of the fiber, respectively, as indicated by the corresponding pole figure.

OIM-2.jpg (49K)

Pole-2.jpg (31K)
Similarly, the purple/blue image is an Orientation Imaging Micrograph of an aluminum thin film deposited on a silicon wafer, with an accompanying pole figure which shows the distribution of the orientations. Grains which have the same color have the same orientation, +/- 15 degrees. The [111] fiber texture common in these types of aluminum thin films is evident.

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TexSEM Laboratories, Inc.
226 W. 2230 North, #120
Provo, UT 84604
USA
Phone: 801-344-8990
FAX: 801-344-8997

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OIM-1.jpg (61K)	Pole-1.jpg (30K)	The red/green/yellow image is an Orientation Imaging Micrograph or OIM of the surface of an aluminum thin film deposited by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) over titanium and titanium nitride layers on a silicon single crystal substrate. The OIM was created using approximately 11,000 orientation measurements taken over a regular hexagonal grid in steps of 0.4 microns. The grains in the image have been shaded according to crystallite lattice orientation. The yellow, green and red colors correspond to orientations along the [111] fiber within five, ten and fifteen degrees of the fiber, respectively, as indicated by the corresponding pole figure.
OIM-2.jpg (49K)	Pole-2.jpg (31K)	Similarly, the purple/blue image is an Orientation Imaging Micrograph of an aluminum thin film deposited on a silicon wafer, with an accompanying pole figure which shows the distribution of the orientations. Grains which have the same color have the same orientation, +/- 15 degrees. The [111] fiber texture common in these types of aluminum thin films is evident.