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AZtecHKL is a powerful EBSD software platform that combines fast, accurate data acquisition and analysis with the flexibility required for advanced materials characterisation. Delivering real-time results, it maximises the performance of the Symmetry S3, the world’s most sensitive CMOS-based EBSD detector. The software also supports seamless simultaneous EBSD and EDS acquisition through AZtecSynergy and is optimised for nanoscale orientation mapping using Transmission Kikuchi Diffraction (TKD), making it ideal for both routine analysis and cutting-edge research applications.
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AZtecHKL is now enhanced with human expertise and artificial intelligence to make even the most powerful measurements routine.
AZtecHKL introduces powerful new tools that make advanced EBSD acquisition easier to set up, more consistent to run, and simpler to report. Designed for routine measurements as well as demanding applications, these features help users capture high-quality data, reduce setup complexity, and turn results into shareable insight with greater confidence.
Tailored Workflow
EBSD Shadow Masking
Batch Export
HTML Project Report
AZtec couples Oxford Instruments’ understanding of real customer needs for routine EBSD analysis, with the flexibility and power required for applications that push the frontiers of EBSD.
Developed by the market leader with global customer support and over 40 years experience in nanoanalysis, AZtec meets the ever more challenging requirements of analysis at the nanoscale.
Fast and powerful
Easy to use
Flexible
Innovative
Reconstructing the metamorphic evolution of rocks often depends on the identification of key minerals that are only stable at specific temperatures and pressures. Combined EBSD and EDS analyses enable more rigorous phase identification than conventional techniques, with the added benefit of providing insights into a rock’s deformation and chemical history.
EBSD Explained is a 24 page tutorial that not only gives newcomers a solid foundation in the underlining science of the subject, but also shows how the theory is applied in practice to get reliable and accurate EBSD results.
Symmetry S3 is a 3rd generation detector based on the advanced CMOS technology and unique design features that have made Symmetry the market’s leading EBSD detector.
Approx View time: 7 minutes
AZtec implements an intelligent band detection routine that determines which of the detected bands should be used in the indexing.
In some applications, high magnetic fields from the SEM lenses distort the electron backscattered diffraction patterns. This distortion curves the Kikuchi bands and shifts the pattern centre but can be corrected automatically using AZtec.
The EBSD indexing routine is critical in achieving accurate results - AZtec uses a new method, Class Indexing.
AZtec correctly identifies phases with similar crystal structures by comparing bandwidth.
Refined Accuracy Algorithm
A new and innovative ‘Refined Accuracy Algorithm*’extends traditional EBSD analysis to deliver unrivalled accuracy and level of detail...
AZtec Refined Accuracy delivers:
AutoCal
Change acquisition conditions and still collect quality EBSD patterns at the click of a button
AZtec corrects for changes in acquisition conditions automatically and in real-time
Optimising the system for data acquisition is easier and more automated than ever before
AutoLock
Image Registration
All AZtec acquired images can be used for specimen navigation and relocation at a later date - even on a different microscope.
The CMOS detectors can incorporate up to 5 forescatter detector diodes
AZtecHKL re-analysis is completely flexible:
Despite significant technological developments in recent years, the conventional EBSD technique is still limited by the pattern source volume to resolutions in the order of 25-100 nm. This is insufficient to measure accurately truly nanostructured materials (with mean grain sizes below 100 nm).
A new approach to SEM-based diffraction has emerged. This uses an electron-transparent sample coupled with conventional EBSD hardware and software. This technique referred to as transmission EBSD (t-EBSD: Keller and Geiss, 2012) or SEM Transmission Kikuchi Diffraction (TKD: Trimby, 2012) has been proven to enable spatial resolutions better than 10nm.
TKD in AZtec
AZtecHKL includes a dedicated TKD navigator that, coupled with the exceptional sensitivity of our CMOS detector range, always delivers high quality TKD results. There are a number of unique TKD-focused innovations, enabling an instantaneous switch from conventional EBSD analyses to TKD:
The Symmetry S3 is the only genuine all-in-one EBSD detector on the market, and is based on the revolutionary Symmetry detector, the world’s first EBSD detector to utilise advanced CMOS technology.
The C-Swift+ is a high-speed and versatile entry-level EBSD detector designed for routine materials analysis and high throughput sample characterisation, offering an ideal balance of performance, ease of use, and value.
The C-Nano+ is suited to characterising all types of samples, but its high pixel resolution makes it ideal for detailed strain analyses as well as for routine work on complex and challenging materials.
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