Electron backscatter diffraction, Ion polisher, correlative microscopy

• Subject Area: Materials Science
• Term: Funded in 2025
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 567023734

Correlative Microscopy, i.e. the combination of APT and EBSD (installed on FIB-SEM) plays an important role in the research program of the Faculty of Engineering, i.e. strengthening green energy research in collaboration with Fraunhofer ISE. For this purpose, a high-performance electron backscatter detector (EBSD) on the existing dual-beam focus-ion-beam/scanning electron microscope (FIB-SEM) system from Thermo Fisher Scientific will be installed. Moreover, the Ion Polisher tool is mandatory to be purchased together with this advanced EBSD, tool which will allow us to prepare the very brittle and sensitive specimens (which is impossible by mechanical polishing). Only with this ion polisher, we will be able to pursue the EBSD investigations of very soft energy materials such as battery materials and perovskites. The Correlative Microscopy will allow an understanding of property correlations such as chemistry (with APT) and structure (with EBSD) for various challenging and beam-sensitive materials such as battery materials and perovskites. The main findings obtained by employing Correlative Microscopy will have direct implications in achieving a deeper understanding of re-designing material properties, but also boosting the performance of sustainable energy devices such as solar cells and batteries. Other areas of application will include contact characteristics in sensors and microelectronic devices, multi-material-joints like welded aluminum-steel or aluminum-titanium compounds, defects in semiconductor heterostructure devices, and quantum materials (quantum bits for quantum computers) in collaboration with other groups at the University of Freiburg and Fraunhofer Institutes.

• DFG Programme: Major Research Instrumentation
• Major Instrumentation: Elektronenrückstreubeugungs-System (EBSD)
• Instrumentation Group: 5160 Elektronenbeugungs-Apparaturen, LEED-, RHEED-, SHEED-Apparaturen
• Applicant Institution: Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg
• Leader: Professorin Oana Cojocaru-Mirédin, Ph.D.