A MAPS Detector for High Resolution Low Dose EBSD

The use of highly sensitive pixelated direct detectors has dramatically improved the performance of high energy instrumentation such as transmission electron microscopy. Here, we describe a recently developed monolithic active pixel sensor designed for low energy scanning electron microscopy applications. This detector enables electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) at lower energies and dose than are accessible with existing scintillator-coupled detectors, expanding grain orientation mapping capabilities to materials such as ceramics that are poor electron conductors. The high detector sensitivity allows collection of rich diffraction information - providing dislocation defect contrast that is otherwise not accessible via EBSD. Indeed, even the energy of single electron interaction events can be measured with this detector, which we demonstrate to energy filter diffraction patterns revealing details of how diffraction occurs at low energy.